The Revivers
by DazedDoxie
Summary: Zombies have taken over the world and a lone group of humans are fighting to wipe them out. When two loners team up, will one of them fall for the leader? Percabeth plus other normal pairings, and Thalico! Yet another "Cliche's Quest" installment! Rated T for violence and minor cussing. Props to anxiouspineapples on tumblr for the pic
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Ok, I'm so sorry. I've got a lot of different cliche's that were much higher up on my list than this one, but I couldn't help it! This was my first bout of pure inspiration in over a week and all you writers out there must get that once you get a visit from your Muse, you have to go with it, right? A couple characters are OOC with their ages to fit the story, but for the most part it'll be pretty close. **

**This is the plot for a story I've been planning. I figured, why not make it a fan fiction for now? Maybe later if this turns out to be a non-fail, I'll make it a story on FictionPress with my characters or something. Enjoy... **

* * *

**Annabeth's PO**V

"Thalia, quick!" They were gaining on us, and fast. They had been for days now. It's rather surprising how fast dead bodies are able to move. We had been running for our lives, for what seemed like an eternity.

Perhaps I should back up a bit, so that this story all makes sense…

About five years ago, a company that named themselves "The Fountain of Youth" created a vitamin. This wasn't your average Flintstones or gummy bear vitamin, though. The company claimed that if this vitamin was taken once a day, your life span could double, or even triple it's normal amount! Naturally every person above eighteen years of age (as that was the legal limit) bought them up and started downing vitamins with their morning coffee.

Technically, the FoY didn't lie about their product. It certainly lengthened your life span… sort of. When the first man to start taking those vitamins died of old age, his body continued to live on. You see, his brain stopped most of it's normal functions, and many of his organs stopped, but he was still alive and kicking so to speak. He was the living dead, literally.

Now, the FoY also failed to list side effects to their miracle vitamins. A simple _Warning: this product may cause rotting skin, tooth decay, eye-watering BO, and an insatiable craving for human flesh _would have been nice.

When the first living dead old man died, nobody could tell. His body hadn't started to decay quite yet, and though his eyes were bloodshot, they had looked that way for many years so nobody paid any attention to that anymore. For a few days he continued his life of sorts as though he were still, well, living.

Then came the day that the craving kicked in with full force, and he bit his nurse as she tried to feed him his daily pudding cup. Within an hour or so, the virus that the man had contracted from taking those miracle pills had spread throughout that poor nurse's entire body. She too, was a zombie now.

Long story short, the virus spread throughout the entire city of Los Angeles, to the entire state of California, to the entire country, to the entire continent, to the entire world. Almost the entire human population was smashed into nonexistence like a piece of gum under a boot.

These zombies weren't like the zombies you see on TV and in movies. Oh no, these zombies were far worse. They moved just as fast as they had when they were alive, and they were just as strong. Though they had no memories and no feelings anymore, they still had instincts, and therefore were rather smart in the ways they catch their food. Their food being those of use with still living flesh, like myself.

My name is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. I'm seventeen years old. When the crisis struck my hometown of San Francisco my best friend, Thalia, and I were at the park doing what normal ten and twelve year old girls do: sit on the swing set and talk about boys.

Little did I know, my home was being attacked by dead bodies hungry for flesh. As Thalia and I chatted away about my latest crush on the neighbor boy, my stepmother was eaten alive, and my father and two younger brothers were bitten and damned to a non-life of the undead. Thalia and me were on our own. Almost on our own, that is.

I won't go into specifics quite yet, but lets just say that Thalia and I lost someone pretty special a year ago to these maggot-infested vermin. Ever since then we've been on the run, continuing the research the three of us had started.

Up until this morning, when we were ambushed that is. And now, we've caught up to the present tense…

The sun was brutal, beating down on the two of us and making the sweat from my forehead fall into my eyes. As if it wasn't hard enough to keep my eyes from watering in this rotten, smoggy air!

"Annabeth, duck into that building over there, it still has a door!" Thalia pointed to a dull brick building that once was glass, but was now made of wooden boards. The door paint was peeling, and the handle was rusting, but it was still a way of keeping out the zombies. We panted harder as we got nearer to safety. _Ten meters, five meters, one meter…_ SLAM! We rushed into the building and shut the door, very nearly chopping off the fingers of a nearby flesh-eater.

As they say, close the door on one threat; open the door to a new one. A single, golden blade was pointed at my chest, keeping my back pinned to the door that still rumbled from the beatings of zombies trying to get in.

My eyes traveled from the point of the blade, down to the hilt, which was gripped by a tan, calloused hand. The hand belonged to a boy. Green eyes, green like seaweed, stared into mine. Bits of night black hair fell into his eyes as they considered me. If I had to guess I'd say he was my age, possibly a year older. He was well built and strong. My heart thudded in my chest, threatening to burst through and impale itself on the sword. I could almost hear him thinking, W_ell, well, well, look at what we have here: a friend or a foe?_

"Who are you?" His voice held authority in it, and strength. I couldn't trace any fear in his tone whatsoever.

"Who's asking?" I asked, still breathless from my run. A bead of sweat tickled my back as it slipped between my shoulder blades. The boy raised one dark eyebrow at me, daring me to defy him again. The point dug the tiniest bit into my skin, almost drawing blood.

"I believe I asked you first." He stated coldly.

"And I believe that I asked you second." Being stubborn in the position I was in was, probably not a good idea. Thankfully, the boy had somehow come to the conclusion that I was no threat to him, and he let the weapon drop. Relief flooded through me, and I allowed myself to stand up straight and peel my back off of the splintering door.

"Percy Jackson." He answered me. Should I tell him my real name? I suppose in this world, it didn't make a difference whether he knew it or not.

"Annabeth Chase," I said, keeping a hand on my knife, "And this is Thalia."

"Thalia Grace," She added, sending me a look. His brows pushed together when she said her last name, but whatever thought he had he quickly dismissed.

"Pleasure," He said flatly. I couldn't blame him, today wasn't necessarily a picnic for me either, "What are you doing here?" Such a welcoming fellow, aren't you?

"Staying alive, same as you." Percy nodded, understanding. He gnawed on his bottom lip for a second, and tilted his head to the side as he thought. I must admit, he was rather attractive. Though dating was the farthest thing down on my list of priorities.

"Do you want help?" He asked.

"We don't need help." Thalia cut in, I nodded in agreement. We'd been on our own for long enough now.

"Oh I'm sure, you don't look like you need help." He said. Touché. Lets face it; this wasn't exactly our best day. I stole a glance down at myself. My once green camo pants had faded to brown and grey from being in the sun and dust so much. My off white tank top was spattered with mud, dirt, and blood. I'd tied my matted blonde curls back with a red bandana, but it didn't help to tame the rat's nest underneath. Thalia wasn't looking much better. Though her all black look hid a lot of the blood stains we'd contracted, and her short, black, spiky hair didn't get quite as tangled as my long curls.

"We need a place to stay for the night," I admitted, overcoming my pride, "We'll be on our way first thing in the morning." Percy simply nodded, but he didn't look like he fully believed that.

"Come with me," He said, slinging his sword through his belt and loping towards a staircase at the side of the room.

I took that moment to look around at where we had run into. The door had led us into a fairly large room with cushion-less couches and a big wooden counter. Above us was a glass chandelier that had somehow managed to hang on throughout all of this. An old hotel, perhaps?

"Are you coming?" Percy called, his foot already on the first stair, "I don't have all day, you know." Well neither did we. Thalia nudged my shoulder, urging me to go ahead of her so that she could keep an eye on our backs. The two of us followed Percy up one level and onto the landing of a long hallway with doors on either side. Yep, definitely an abandoned hotel.

"I'd say it's around noon," He said, looking out the window at the sun, "Everyone's likely in Grover's room."

"How many of you are there? And who's Grover?" Thalia asked.

"All in good time," He said vaguely as he rapped on a door.

"Perce, is that you?" A girls voice yelled through the door.

"No, it's Barney. Open up, Hazel!" Hazel? The door slowly swung open to reveal a short, dark-skinned girl with curly brown hair and golden eyes. She looked to be in her early teens, if not younger. This must be Hazel. Percy strut calmly into the room, then turned back to look at Thalia and me.

"Are you planning on spending the night in the hallway?" He asked. Thalia eyed me with her electric blue eyes, giving me her "_Keep your guard up"_ look. Cautiously, the two of us entered the room.

What I'd originally thought to be a room turned out to be a suite with a living room area, a full kitchen, and what I assumed were two doors that led to separate bedrooms. Seven teenagers sat in various positions around the place. At our arrival, all of them stood with their weapons raised.

"At ease, soldiers." Percy said jokingly, "They're harmless." His elbows rested against the plastic counter of the kitchen, looking out at the group. Almost immediately, everyone resumed their earlier positions, but kept their eyes on us and their hands on their weapons.

"Harmless my ass," Thalia muttered, gripping her bow. I elbowed her in the ribs. If these people were going to give us refuge for the night, the least we could do was play nice for a few hours.

"You know it's rude to linger in doorways," Percy said, "Come in, we don't bite. We chop heads off, but we don't bite." That sent a chuckle around the room. So he was a joker, noted. The two of us stepped quietly into the room, our hands still on our weapons.

Four boys and two girls, including the one that had answered the door (Hazel I think), were seated about the place.

"Guys, this is Thalia," Percy pointed to her, "And Annabeth," He gestured towards me. It felt odd hearing my name on his tongue. Strange… "They're gonna stay here for the night. Here, have a seat." He kicked a couple of dining chairs into the living room. Using extreme caution, the two of us did as he asked. Percy himself leisurely strolled in and plopped down on the couch next to a girl with choppy brown hair with what looked like feathers in it. If I had to guess I'd say she was sixteen, or maybe fifteen like Thalia. She was seated beside the girl, Hazel, who was holding tightly onto the hand of a husky Asian boy. He was… fifteen perhaps? It was hard to tell with him. Across the room in an old armchair was what looked like a Latino version of one of Santa's elves. His dark hair was unruly and curly, and his dark eyes were bright and happy, as though he'd had a shot or two of espresso. Standing with his arms crossed in the corner was an African-American boy with a set jaw, hard eyes, and pursed lips. He was for sure the oldest, in his early twenties it looked like.

"This is Piper," Percy tapped the shoulder of the girl with the feathers in her hair, "And Hazel, and her boyfriend Frank," He pointed towards the Asian boy, "And Leo, repair boy extraordinaire," He winked, "And that's Beckendorf." He said, nodding towards the boy in the corner. We nodded towards everyone in greeting.

"Yo Nico! Jason! Grover, Juniper! Come meet some people!" Percy yelled. The bedroom door on the left opened to reveal a frazzled looking woman holding a little girl who looked to be about five.

"Percy! I just got Daisy to go to sleep!" She complained. The woman had light brown hair, light green eyes, and pointy ears. The little girl in her arms could have been her clone. Percy blushed in his seat.

"We love you Perce, but sometimes you're just too ADHD for me." A man stepped out of the room and came up behind the woman, kissing her cheek and tickling the tummy of the girl. A family? The man's hair was light brown and curly, and his eyes were light with happiness as he stared down at the girls.

"Sorry," Percy muttered sheepishly, "Grover, Juniper, meet Annabeth and Thalia. Ladies, meet Grover, his wife Juniper, and their daughter, Daisy." He said. Oh, so this was Grover. The family waved at us curiously.

"What's with the yelling? I was taking a nap, I've got nightshift ton—" Was that who I _think _it was? Blonde hair, electric blue eyes, the scar on his lip…

"Jason!" Thalia cried, jumping up out of her chair and throwing caution to the wind. She flung her arms around her long-lost brother, "Thank god you're ok! You have no idea how sick I've felt all these years!"

"Thalia?" Jason just looked bewildered, and confused, "And Annabeth?" We'd been childhood friends. Up until the incident that is, "But… how… what the?"

"You're alive!" I cried as I stood up to hug him as well.

"Um… care to explain why Jason's hugging two very attractive girls in front of his girlfriend?" A voice sounded from the doorway of the room Jason had come out of. I let go of Jason and craned my neck to see a boy around Thalia's age leaning against the doorframe. Wow, he looked more like he could have been Thalia's brother than Jason did! His hair was black, his clothes were black, and the sword hanging by his side was (you guessed it) black.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too!" The girl, Piper I believe, said from her spot on the couch, sounding just a bit miffed. This must be the girlfriend. And she thought… oh dear…

"Well guys, meet my sister." Jason said, putting an arm around Thalia, "And her best friend," He nudged my side.

"So _this _is the sister that you're always talking about?" The Asian boy, Frank, asked. Jason nodded, smiling brighter than I'd seen anyone smile in years.

"I thought it was weird you guys had the same last name…" Percy said thoughtfully. Piper smacked his arm.

"You're so dense, Jackson." He rolled his eyes at her.

How odd, they were all so comfortable. It was almost like they weren't being hunted by the undead around the clock.

"Are you guys joining the Revivers?" Jason asked. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"The Revivers," Jason repeated, "That's what we call ourselves." He explained.

"Why the Revivers?" I asked. It was Percy who answered me, before anyone else could even open their mouths.

"Because it's our mission to wipe out the zombies, and revive the human race." He explained proudly.

"For the record, I voted for the Super Awesome Zombie Ass Kickers." Leo added in as he fiddled with an old screwdriver. Thalia bit her lip and looked up at her brother.

"We were just going to spend the night…" His face fell, as did hers.

"If you want you can stay," Percy said, looking at me, "We actually need two more fighters since the Stolls…" Everyone looked down at the dingy carpet.

"I'm not sure if that's…" Oh great, Thalia's giving me the look. It's not like I could blame her. If we ever ran into my older brother, Malcolm, assuming he was still alive that is, I'd want to stay with him too. "If you'll have us, we'll join." I said. She mouthed a _thank you_, and wrapped an arm around her big brother's waist. I simply nodded.

It was hard not to notice Percy's eyes light up when I agreed. He clapped his hands together and stood up.

"Excellent! Welcome to the cause," He held out a hand to me, to shake on it. I eyed his hand carefully. Shaking on it would seal the deal; Thalia and I would be stuck here. Who knows when I'd be able to continue my research? But there was something about this place and these people that I couldn't help but feel drawn to.

He had a firm handshake, and a warm hand.

"Why don't I show you around our base? We can assign you two to a Troop in the morning." Percy offered with glittery green eyes. Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention for a moment, and turned my head just a little to see Nico and Grover nudging each other, smirking at Percy. Ugh, boys…

I hesitated on his offer, was I sure I would be safe alone with him? But if I can't trust my new allies, whom can I trust?

"Sure, ok." I answered. Percy smiled at me. One corner of his lip lifted just the tiniest bit higher than the other, just like… no. Don't go there.

He jumped up from his place on the couch, "Follow me," He said, and led me to the door. I sent Thalia a final look, and she just smiled at me encouragingly. After all these years together, I could almost read her mind. _He's Jason's friend. We can trust him._ Fine, Thalia, if you say so.

* * *

Percy seemed really calm and cheerful as he took me downstairs to the dusty lobby.

"As you've seen, this is an abandoned hotel. It was once called the Plaza." He said, "This place was one of the nicest hotels in all of New York, before the outbreak I mean." Even though the marble floors were chipping, and the walls were rotting, it was easy to imagine this place once being a grand palace. Up above us, the ceiling was made of glass.

"Aren't you worried about them breaking the glass?" I asked, pointing up at the ceiling. He just shrugged and dug his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts.

"We've blocked all ways to the roof from the outside. And even if they did, it's a hard fall."

"But they're already dead, what do they have to lose?" He cocked his head at me.

"You have an interesting mind," He remarked. Strange… my cheeks started to heat up. Was it warm in here? Percy smirked, "Look who's blushing." He teased. Me? Blushing? I hadn't blushed since…

"So, ready for the next part of the tour?" Percy asked. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Yeah," I said roughly. He smiled, and turned on his heel to lead me down a side hallway.

The first thing to hit me in this room was the stale stench of chlorine. My nose wrinkled at the smell, and Percy chuckled at my expression.

"Leo's amazing. He hooked up our plumbing in this place. All of our water's warm, but it's better than nothing." He said and kicked the water in a large pit in the center of the room. A pool, "Swimming's really calming, it's a good way to clear your mind when all of this… mess gets to your head." He said. For a moment there his eyes got all misty, but they cleared up within a few seconds. I took a seat on one of the rickety pool chairs on the edge.

"You mentioned Troops before, what are those?" I asked. He pulled up a seat next to me.

"A Troop is how we divide and conquer. We have two Troops in our little team. I'm head of Troop 1. Nico, the punk kid? He's my Lieutenant. Jason's head of Troop 2, and Piper's his Lieutenant. Troops take turns going out on raids. When we go on raids we either go looking for supplies, or we go to do some killing." He explained, "The only people who aren't in a Troop are Grover, Juniper, and Daisy. Juniper stays at base with Daisy, and Grover only goes on local raids so that he can stay near them." This room, like the other one, had a glass roof. Light filtered through the dirty windows and illuminated the dust motes floating around us.

"How old are Grover and Juniper?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Both 21." My ears perked in surprise as my mind did the math.

"But Daisy's five years old, right?" Percy nodded.

"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow at him. Percy just stared back at me.

"That means she was born when Juniper was 16," I prompted. Percy smirked at me.

"I see what's going on here. You're still thinking in the traditional ways, right? Before all the zombie madness?"

"You could say that, yes." Percy ran a hand through his messy black hair.

"In the world we're living in now, we may not live to see tomorrow. Therefore, we all live as though we're not going to. Grover and Juniper deserve a shot at a family. At sixteen years old they got married, and almost a year later Juniper had Daisy."

"But how did they get married if there aren't any priests around anymore?" Percy let out a dry laugh.

"Do you think the zombies care whether they're legally married or not?" He asked. I didn't answer, "What matters is that they're married in the eyes of each other and the people who love them: Me, Nico, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Piper." The way he explained things made sense to me.

"That's… actually really sweet." I said. He smirked.

"Now that we've got that sap story out in the open, what do you say I show you your room? Piper can probably lend you some clothes or something because, no offense, but you look like you've run through Hell and back." I just smirked.

"I kind of did." Maybe this guy would turn out to be not so bad...

* * *

**Percy POV**

"You like her, don't you?" We'd given Thalia and Annabeth a suite to share, and clothes. Hazel went to throw their muddy clothes in the washing machine that was in her suite (once again, all hail Leo who singlehandedly gave us plumbing and electricity) Piper and Juniper were making dinner with Daisy. Frank, Jason, and Leo were on guard duty right now. So Grover, Nico, and me decided to take a break and play a card game in my room.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said as I threw a card into the center. Grover nudged my shoulder.

"Don't play dumb, Perce. We've known you too long to fall for it."

"Who says he's playing?" Nico asked as he swiped a couple cards from the center. I reached out and punched him in the arm, resulting in him flicking my forehead. I fished a card out of the center, pleased with my choice.

"Full house," I announced, laying out my cards. Grover scratched his head in confusion.

"I thought we were playing Go Fish?" Nico threw his cards down in frustration.

"I've been playing Pinochle!"

"Either way, I won my game before either of you won yours." I said smugly, glad to be free of the touchy subject of _her._ Oh wait… maybe not. Grover's looking at me weird again…

"Don't think you're getting off that easy, Perce. Come on just admit it. You think she's cute." My ears burned red. Honestly? Yes, I thought she was cute. Even with dirt and blood streaking her face, her blonde hair sticking up in all directions, she was cute. Especially the eyes. They were grey, like storm clouds, or owl feathers, or…

"Percy!" Nico snapped my attention back.

"I don't not haven't not thought she wasn't not cute." I muttered. I think that makes sense… Nico's eyes started to glaze over, "And what are you interrogating _me_ for? Nico's the one that was flirting with Jason's sister!"

"I did not!" He protested, "All I did was tell her that her Green Day T-shirt was wicked. That is _so_ not flirting!" The red that had risen to the pale boy's cheeks said otherwise.

"Jason's so going to kill you for hitting on his long-lost sister." I said as I gathered the cards and shuffled them again, "What now? Gin, Hearts, Pepper…"

"Hearts seems appropriate, huh Percy?" Grover winked at me, "I'll deal." He took the deck from me and started flinging the cards at us.

"Drop it Grover," I growled. He _tsked_ his tongue and shook his head.

"Oh no, dear friend, oh no. I've found the love of my life, it's time we found you one too, now who has the deuce?" Nico threw the club out into the center.

"She's just another warrior now." I stated simply and laid down a five.

"As is Thalia." Nico said, and threw in a three.

"Whatever, guys." Grover opened his unusually large mouth to say another thing, but was interrupted by harsh knocking on the door of my suite. Our battle instincts kicked in, and we were in our offensive stances with weapons out before we heard Hazel's voice through the door.

"Dinner time! If you three don't get your butts in here in two minutes, we'll give your share to the zombies!" And we couldn't have that, now could we?

* * *

The three of us had a race down the hallway to Grover and Juniper's place (I won, naturally). As usual, we let Grover go in first to greet his wife and daughter.

"Daddy!" Daisy squealed with delight. She was a cute kid, and she may as well be Juniper's younger sister they look so alike. Daisy ran straight into the arms of her father, who hugged her tight to his chest and kissed the top of her head lovingly. Juniper smiled at the pair, and planted a kiss on Grover's cheek.

It was so nice to see the three of them together. I'd known Grover since we were kids, and I'd never seen him happier than when he was with his family.

"Come on guys, food's fresh!" Hazel called from the kitchen. At the mention of food, Nico sprinted to the counter to take his share. I took a step forward, but stopped in my tracks.

The next person stepped up to counter to retrieve their share. She had golden blonde hair that hung in curls down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Without the dirt covering her face, you could see long dark eyelashes that brushed her rosy cheeks when she blinked, and accentuated her plump, pink lips. Piper had apparently lent her an old pair of frayed black denim cutoffs that ended about mid thigh. She was wearing a different, bright white tank top that contrasted nicely with her golden skin, golden from running in the sun every day. The same black combat boots were still on her feet, and the same old dagger hung suspended from one of her belt loops by a leather chord. A gorgeous gray eye looked up and caught me staring. It was only when she stood in front of me and placed a soft finger underneath my chin to shut my mouth did I even realize my jaw was hanging open.

"You should really close your mouth," She said in a lilting voice that made a tingle run up my spine, "You'll attract flies." She said softly with a dead serious face before sitting on the chair next to Thalia in the living room.

"Right," My voice hitched up an octave higher than usual. Thankfully, she didn't hear me. Unfortunately, Grover did. I cleared my throat loudly, "Er, right." I said in a normal voice, "Annabeth, Thalia, you guys are going to be in Troop 1 with me, Nico, and Beckendorf." Jason clapped his sister on the shoulder.

"Troop 1, way to go, baby sister!" He congratulated her. Thalia turned to Annabeth with a big grin on her face. For the first time, I saw Annabeth smile a real smile. Not a sarcastic one, not a fake one, a real happy smile. One word: wow.

Grover bumped my shoulder as he walked past me to the living room.

"Oh yeah, you _definitely _don't like her. You just proved it, by gawking at her and putting her in _your _Troop." He winked, and took his rightful place next to Juniper with Daisy on his lap.

Grover was wrong. I didn't think she was cute. I thought she was absolutely breathtaking.


	2. Chapter 2

**Annabeth POV**

Three days. Three days is how long Thalia and I have been here at the home of the Revivers. Three days we've been a part of their righteous cause. Three days wasn't much back in the old world, but in this new one it might as well be a millennia.

And not once have I regretted our decision to stay.

We got three meals a day, a full night's rest, and safety. Not to mention the people! Juniper was the sweetest woman I'd ever met. Though I'd never been much of a "kid person", it was hard not to fall in love with Daisy. It was easy to see why Grover loved them so much.

And then there was Piper. At first she'd struck me as the overly jealous girlfriend who never lifted a finger type. After a two-minute conversation with her I realized just how wrong I was. She was a fighter, a stubborn tough cookie that didn't take crap from anyone. My kind of girl.

Of course Leo added quite a few laughs to my day. He was a complete goofball whose one mission was to bring as much happiness to this crappy world as he possibly can. So far, he was off to a good start. Not only was he funny, he really was an engineer extraordinaire. I had watched as he assembled and unassembled a miniature toy car in less than two minutes.

Not to mention Frank and Hazel. The two of them were nearly inseparable all around the clock. They were both really sweet, and shy. But when we were training, I realized how vicious they truly could be. Remind me not to get on their bad sides…

Nico di Angelo was just as I'd suspected: Thalia's other half. It was almost as though the two of them each shared one half of a full brain (not to say he isn't smart, because he is when he wants to be). The way he talked, acted, moved, just made me think _Thalia, Thalia, Thalia._ I certainly had a couple of predictions for the two of them in the future.

Jason had stayed virtually the same all these years. He was still the same strong, loyal, kind big brother he'd always been. I was grateful for that bit of my past returned.

Do not even get me started on Mr. Percy Jackson. The guy was… I'm not even sure. One minute he's tolerable, the next he's likeable, the next he's absolutely infuriating. And this is all from spending a grand total of about an hour with the guy over the course of the past three days.

The only real puzzler of the group was Beckendorf. He didn't speak much. He didn't smile much. All he did was train, sleep, and take his shift as guard.

I asked Nico about it one day as we were training in the old gym under Thalia's watchful eye. Most of the dusty workout equipment had been pushed aside, so there was room in the center of the room for us to fight against one another. About a thousand and one purple and blue yoga mats had been rolled out and piled on top of each other as a makeshift mat.

"Hey Nico?" My breathing was heavy from my training for that day. His sword clanged against my knife.

"Hit the hilt!" Thalia yelled at me. I twisted my blade to do just that.

"Yes Annabeth?" Nico asked, sending Thalia a glare. She simply shrugged and smirked at him as she lounged on an old treadmill waiting for her turn.

"What's the story with—" His sword clattered to the ground and I held the flat of my blade against his neck, "—Beckendorf?" Nico held his hands up, palms towards me, in surrender. Sheathing my knife, I shook his hand in an act of good sportsmanship.

"Nobody knows for sure," Nico said as he stooped to retrieve his weapon, "One day he showed up at the base, and Percy offered him a place in the Revivers. None of us know a thing about him, not even his first name." Thalia and I switched places. It was customary for the loser of a fight to go again instead of the winner, so that they could get better. She slapped my hand in kudos before she took out her second-favorite weapon: her spear. Thalia worked better with her bow, but it was hard to practice combat with one of those.

"You mean it's not Beckendorf?" I asked as I seated myself on the worn out vinyl of the running machine. Nico shook his head as he took his stance.

"Nope, last name." Nico and Thalia stared each other in the eye for a grand total of about three seconds before lunging towards each other. Thalia kicked her foot out at his ankle, but he jumped in time to miss it. His sword caught the shaft of her spear as she pushed it towards him. They pushed for a few minutes before Thalia spun the wood to release her weapon.

"And nobody ever tried asking him?" I continued my questioning.

"I'm sure somebody did. Percy did, probably. But if Beckendorf told him anything, Percy wouldn't tell anyone." Nico used the hilt of his sword to hit Thalia in the gut, and then tackled her to the floor, "He's a good friend in that sense. He can keep a secret." Nico made the fatal mistake of pinning her arms down only, from the waist down she was free. Thalia lifted her heels to Nico's shoulders and pulled him down while simultaneously pulling herself up. The floor mats smacked and spattered dust as Nico's back hit them and Thalia pinned all four of his limbs down.

"I win," She said in triumph. He just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Get off me!" My best friend smirked and stood up, holding her hand out to help Nico off the ground.

Dramatic clapping echoed around the room. Leaning against the doorframe, stood Mr. Secret-Keeper himself wearing old basketball shorts and a faded blue T-shirt that read _Goode Middle School Swim Team. _

"Well done, kid. You managed to get beaten by two girls in less than five minutes. I think that's a new record." Nico brushed the debris off of his shorts and retrieved his sword once more.

"That's not fair! These girls are vicious!"

"And don't you forget it," Thalia said proudly, crossing her arms. I clapped her shoulder in support. Percy eyed the two of us calmly.

"Oh I don't know, I think I could take you." A strange sound escaped my throat; something between a goat's bleat and a maniac laugh.

"Please, you couldn't take me if I had one hand tied behind my back!" Percy stepped up to the mat to get in my face. He was close enough that I could feel his breath caress my face.

"You think?" He asked. I blinked, and held my ground.

"You wanna bet?" Those green eyes of his sparkled like the sea on a sunny day.

"You bet I want a bet!" Thankfully, he took a step back and allowed me to let hold of the breath I'd been holding.

"Thalia, get me that duct tape." I said, pointing to a roll in the corner. Thalia ripped off a piece of the silvery tape and helped me attach my left wrist to the small of my back. Percy stood on the far corner of the mat, lazily swinging his sword in an arc, making it glint in the sunlight.

"You done stalling yet?" He taunted. In an act of immaturity, I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Bring it, Jackson." I spat at him. He wiggled his fingers at me teasingly.

"Last names, how scary!" While he was probably congratulating himself, I lunged with my dagger raised high.

Quick as a whip he lashed out with his sword and blocked my strike.

"Smart, Chase. Very smart." The two of us backed up, blades pointed towards one another. He had his leveled with his nose, and he stared down the length of it. My wrist was sweating beneath the tape. Very soon I'd be able to wriggle out of it…

Hm. He stood with his weight very obviously shifted to his left. An experienced fighter such as him would never make a mistake like that. Feigning an attack, that's what he's doing. Though his eyes were shifting between me and the space to his left, I could see the fingers on his right side twitching just a bit downwards. He was going to attack me at my feet and legs to catch me off balance. Clever, but not clever enough.

Percy lurched to the side, and then ducked down to grab my ankle and pull me off of my feet. Before he even knew what was happening I'd grabbed his wrist and pulled him down so that he'd flipped onto his back.

This boy was a quick thinker when it came to battle, however. He still possessed his blade, and we certainly can't have that! He thrust the strange golden sword up at me, but I caught it with the hilt of my knife. I'd been in this situation before, and I knew what happened next. Oh what a stupid mistake! I had use of only one arm, he was in the perfect position to disarm me.

In one swift movement my blade clattered to the floor across the room while I simultaneously kicked his wrist to make his grip loosen. Now, the both of us were weaponless. Thanks to my quick wit I had the advantage as I was standing and he wasn't. Oh yes, the tape had loosened up nicely…

Percy used his foot and hooked it around the back of my knee and sent me sprawling. Little did he know, that was just what I wanted. In an instant, Percy had pinned three of my limbs down as the fourth was still tucked behind my back.

"I do believe I win this one," He rubbed in smugly. _Oh yeah?_ I let my head drop and took a deep breath to feign defeat. Percy's grip loosened and gave me the opportunity I needed. My hand slipped from the binds of the tape, and using full force I knocked him back down and held all four of his limbs to the ground.

"It seems I have won, haven't I?" Percy stared up at me with wide eyes.

"You cheated!" He accused me. Sweat made strands of dark hair plaster to his forehead, and his face was red from the exercise.

For a brief moment I considered using the common phrase _All's fair in love and war_. But this moment called for something of my own invention.

"There are no rules in hell," Was it just me, or was his breathing speeding up rather than slowing down?

"Well put," He managed to choke out. An awkward coughing sounded behind us, and I realized Percy was still pinned to the floor. It was a good thing my face was already red from the workout. The two of us stumbled to our feet.

"Good game," I said, and held my hand out to shake. He didn't hesitate to grasp it and give me a single, solid, handshake.

"Next time, Annabeth, next time." He promised with a small smile.

"You keep letting yourself think that," I said with a slight teasing tone. It felt really weird to tease again. I hadn't really joked in a while. You can imagine that there wasn't much to joke about. Percy made things feel so… different than what they were.

Great, now I've just been staring awkwardly at him for about a minute and a half in pure silence. Just wonderful. I cleared my throat very awkwardly.

"I'm gonna go upstairs." Thalia eyed me with that look of hers, the look that told me she knew something I didn't. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate that look?

"Meet you up there. I need to kick some butt, first." She said confidently, and took her stance across from Percy, whose eyes didn't stop burning a hole in my back until I was out of sight.

* * *

"So Annabeth…" Piper drawled inquisitively, "You and Percy?" I raised an eyebrow at my friend as she stared at me from her seat on the beat up old couch.

"Me and Percy what?" Piper rolled her eyes and sat up straight to look me in the eye.

"You know what I mean." This is true, I did. The two of us were lounging in her room before we took our shift on guard duty. It had been a day or so after I whooped Percy's butt. Ever since then the atmosphere between the two of us has been a lot lighter. Joking more at meal times, training together, discussing different tactics. Apparently, the others noticed it as well. I gave her an exasperated sigh of disapproval.

"Piper, please." She held her hands up, palms towards me.

"Don't tell me you can't sense the chemistry. Much as I hate to admit it, I have a sort of… sixth sense about this sort of thing." For some reason I couldn't look her in the eye, so I picked at a piece of white stuffing falling out of the cushion of my chair.

"Percy's proven to be a reliable friend." I stated calmly.

"Yeah right!" A loud and obnoxious voice snorted from the doorway. Thalia marched into the room and fell onto the couch beside Piper, stirring up a cloud of dust as she went, "It's pretty obvious what you really think, Annabeth." She flinched just a little underneath my glare.

"You're not funny, Thalia."

"That's right, I'm hilarious, but that's not the point." Thalia leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, "You like him, I can see it." I didn't know what I felt for Percy, but I was fairly certain that I did not like him in the way she was implying.

"I don't like him." I said, "In that sense, I mean."

"I do believe thou doth protest too much." Piper said, "I heard that saying a lot around my house as a kid. It means—"

"I know what it means!" I interrupted her, "And I'm not, honest." Thalia's eyes looked up to meet mine, and she seemed to understand what I was thinking.

"Annabeth," She started gently, "Maybe Percy would be nice… change." Like the stubborn bull I am, I shook my head.

"I'm not ready for change." Piper's eyes darted between the two of us in confusion.

"I'm missing something here." Thalia waved her hand as though she was wafting the subject we were avoiding out the window.

"We'll tell you later." She said. That meaning we just might tell you in a few years… or so. Piper still looked pretty curious. Curiosity killed the cat as they say.

"You know," I slapped my knees and stood up, "I think I'll take a quick nap before our shift. Wake me when it's time, will you?" Piper nodded, and patted my shoulder as I passed her to go to the door and out to the hallway.

What was that whimpering sound I heard? Maybe Daisy was having a fit or something. After all, she was only five years old. It was a surprise she didn't have more breakdowns considering the conditions.

No, that was Daisy's laugh coming from Juniper's suite. So who was making those sounds? My trained ears honed in on the source: a cream colored door down at the end of the hall. I remembered this door from a few days ago when Percy had shown me whose room was who's.

Beckendorf? Was he hurt, had a zombie gotten in?

The door was cracked and a bit of sunlight peeked through. Using the silence of a mouse I pushed the door open just the smallest bit more so that I could look inside.

Unlike the other suites, Beckendorf had opted for a regular room with a bed, bathroom, and smaller version kitchen. What was it they called it… a kitchenette that's what.

Beckendorf sat on the edge of his bed facing the window with his back to me. His head was bowed, and his back was shaking in tiny tremors every few seconds. There was something in his hands, but I couldn't see it from where I was. Maybe if I moved the door just a little more and got a sort of angle with that mirror…

"You've already seen me. Just come in already why don't you?" He said miserably. I was taken aback for a moment, having never heard him speak. Let alone heard him sound so… sad.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "I can leave you alone—"

"No," he interrupted me, "It's ok. Come in." Who was I to refuse?

Beckendorf scooted over just a bit so that I could take a seat beside him. I saw clearly what he was holding in his hand: a picture. It was faded to a yellowish color, and the edges were torn. Through the middle was a long crease that had been worn down from being folded and unfolded so many times.

But even after so long, the beauty the picture held was still as fresh as the day it had been taken. It was of a couple from the waist up. They couldn't have been any older than fifteen or sixteen. The boy was easily recognizable, Beckendorf hadn't changed much. He had more worry lines now, and the brightness in his eyes and smile had long been extinguished.

The girl, on the other hand, was a stranger. She had long, silky black hair and eyes as blue as the sky. Beckendorf had his arms wrapped around her and his chin resting on her shoulder as she leaned her head against his. The two of them looked at each other with such adoration, that it made my heart ache for what I'd once had.

"Her name was Silena." Beckendorf's voice broke when he said her name. A single drop of water fell down onto the photo, which he quickly wiped away with care. "And I loved her more than I'd ever loved anyone in my entire life." He sniffled and wiped his eyes on his sleeve, "She had this way of looking at life," He laughed, a breathy laugh, "everything was good to her, everything was warm and full of love. Her smile made everything better, and her laugh made you want to laugh too." His sobs shook his entire body and made his shoulders rock. I wondered if I should try to comfort him, or just continue to listen.

"We'd been together since we were thirteen." He cried, "I thought that she was the one. I thought that we would spend forever together." His eyes squeezed tightly together as more tears slipped out, "And then the epidemic hit. It was just me and her for so long. I promised her we'd make it, that I'd keep her safe." His voice broke again and he quit talking. I reached out a tentative hand and placed it on his, gently squeezing for comfort. Beckendorf cried silent tears for a couple of minutes. I waited patiently, understanding. I could assume what came next. He licked his lips and spoke again.

"I couldn't save her." He whispered, "In the end I couldn't save her." His tear-stained face fell into his hands as he sobbed his heart out. I realized that warm, wet tears were making their way down my cheeks as well. My hand still held his, letting him know I was still here.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to him. I didn't tell him it was ok, I didn't tell him it wasn't his fault. I knew for a fact none of it would make a difference to him. The best I could do was give my sympathy and understanding.

And truly, I did understand. I understood _exactly_ how he felt…

The two of us sat there for a long, long time crying together.

"I lost someone too," I admitted, "About a year ago." Beckendorf looked up at me, the same sympathy I held for him reflected in his eyes too. Without a word, he squeezed my hand back.

When I'd first been introduced to Beckendorf, I'd assumed he'd be no more than my ally. He was the brawn, the muscle, the stronghold. Not once had I thought that I'd find a friend in him.

I decided to go shower to get rid of my tears. Beckendorf was staying in his room to allow himself a few more minutes with Silena. Just as I was about to turn the knob on his door, he stopped me.

"Annabeth?" I turned to look at him. Beckendorf let a small smile slip onto his face, "My name is Charles."

Now I understood why he didn't want anyone to know it. His first name was for Silena. Since he'd shared Silena with me, he could share his name with me as well. But to me he'd still be Beckendorf. Charles was Silena's love, and Beckendorf was my friend.

* * *

**Percy POV**

Whew, nothing better than a mid-afternoon workout! I wonder if Annabeth would be up for another round before she took on guard duty? If I made it a challenge there's no way she'd refuse. Competitive girl, she was. And really pretty… wait, what?

I'd reached the top of the stairs, and was just about to turn into my room when a floorboard creaked. A certain someone with blonde hair and a bronze dagger was turning the doorknob of her room. Perfect timing. Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Or perhaps angel would be a better term in this case?

What was wrong with me?!

"Hey Annabeth," I said. Her golden hair was pulled loose around her face and covered her eyes.

"Hi," Her voice sounded weird. Was she crying?

"Are you ok?" I asked. I realized that I'd taken a couple of steps forward, and was now standing about a foot away from her. Annabeth nodded, still not letting me see her face.

"Yeah. I was just gonna go shower before my shift." Annabeth had definitely been crying.

"Careful, your pants might set on fire." At that ridiculous comment she looked up. Blotchy red cheeks, puffy eyes, and dried tears, "What's wrong?" I asked. Her watery grey eyes stared down at the floor.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. I'm a big girl, I think I can handle a few tears every now and then." She muttered to the rotting floorboards. Acting on instinct (and ADHD) I put a hand lightly on her wrist.

"You know you can talk to me about stuff, right?" We were really close now. I could smell the lemon soap she used in her hair. Annabeth stared up at me with shining silvery eyes as she nodded.

"I know." The next few seconds felt like hours as we just looked at each other. It was like her eyes had glued themselves to mine, freezing us both in place.

All too soon she coughed and pushed her hair behind her ears, "I'll see you later, Percy." She said, and quickly escaped into her room. The air still smelled like her hair. The scent was fogging my head and making me forget some pretty important stuff… like my name. I had to lean back against the wall for a minute just to catch my breath.

"Wow," I breathed.

"You're telling me! You got it bad, dude!"

"GROVER!"

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

Guard duty wasn't all that bad. We all traded off every two hours or so with two or three of us sitting in the lobby to watch for any clever zombies. Piper and I decided to bring down a checkerboard with us. A lot of the pieces were missing though, so we used old bottle caps and coins where we had run out of tiles.

"King me," I said for the fifth time in a row. Piper grumbled something under her breath as she stacked a penny on top of my quarter.

"You could you possibly be winning already?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Tactics are my specialty." It was true. My mind was hardwired for battle strategy.

Lucky for me, I was also ADHD, so my mind was never so fully focused on one thing that it blocked out everything else. It may have been the thing that had kept me alive all this time.

_Crack!_ Both my and Piper's heads snapped up. The sound was pretty obvious. It was the crack of glass being broken.

And it was coming from right above us.

Damn it I _told _Percy it wasn't safe!

"Piper get down!" Her instincts were good, she rolled out of the way just as the broken shards shattered down onto our checkers board.

Great, now Piper will never know how I had planned to totally kick her butt in one of the best board games known to man and zombie.

The two of us stood on opposite sides of the room, looking up at the glass ceiling. Although the fact that it was glass really didn't matter anymore, considering how much dirt was caked on there it may as well be a full on ceiling. Only it's fragile state gave away just how dangerous it was.

And now there's a large, jagged, hole in it. But the hole was the least of our worries. The problem, was who had created it. Or should I say what? These days I wasn't sure what to call them.

The ceiling had to be about a story high, possibly two. Well according to those support beams it was likely about one and a half…

Ok, ADHD wasn't always helpful.

"Look out!" Piper yelled. The thing fell head first through the hole, landing with a slam on the dingy stone floor. The two of us froze, just staring at the lump of ripped clothing and rotted flesh just ten feet in front of us.

Quicker then the dead should have moved, it was up again. No, not an "it", a he. And like the old world, the he always went after the one with the lighter hair. Another downer to being a blonde.

He dove towards me, arms outstretched, jaw slacked. The remnants of his last meal were still dripping from his teeth. Ew.

It was times like this when my 24/7 zombie-killing practice for the past few years came in handy. With a strategically placed slice to the back of his neck, and another to the front, his head was rolling at my feet.

That's the thing with the zombies. If their head isn't rolling, then they aren't dead.

"A-Annabeth…" Piper's voice wavered, and her finger shook as she pointed up.

Like I said. Where there's one, there are more. There are always more.

"Go get the Troops," I said. Piper didn't move, she was still staring, "Piper!" I yelled. She jumped back into her right skin and started thinking again.

"But Annabeth…" She started to protest.

"GO!" She didn't hesitate again.

This time, three of the flesh-eaters fell down onto the ground. The bad news? I was outnumbered. The good news was that I had a plan.

"You want a piece of me? Come at me, Death Breath!" They stumbled after me, unorganized as usual. When they were close enough that the stench was watering my eyes, I kicked. The one on the left stumbled, giving me enough time to wipe out the one on the right. Wonderful, they had the courtesy to line up just perfectly. I only had to swipe once.

The zombies were pouring in now. The hole was small, so no more than three at a time. It was enough, little by little I was getting swarmed.

* * *

**Percy POV**

"ZOMBIES ON THE ROOF! ZOMBIES ON THE ROOF!" Piper had barely finished those two sentences before we were all up on our feet and in action.

"Juniper, take Daisy into the bathroom, lock the door, do not come out until we come for you. Everyone else, get to the roof!" We weren't soldiers, but we may as well be after all of this.

"They're getting in the lobby!" Piper yelled after us.

"Troop 2, take the lobby! Troop 1, get up there! Leo, come with us and bring your tools. We need to set up more blockades." Jason took Piper, Frank, and Hazel down the stairs while I led Beckendorf, Nico, Thalia, Leo, and Grover up the staircase to the roof.

I'd like to say we burst up there, full of confidence, and totally tanked all of the undead.

I'd be lying though. The moment we got up there, and saw the twenty some zombies, I think I speak for us all when I say we almost wet our pants!

There was a fire escape on the side of the building. These fleabags could climb that's for sure. We had set up a blockade, but it looks like they'd gotten through.

"Fix the blocks, Leo! We'll cover!" The seven of us sprung into action, hacking at the undead as they came towards us. It was obvious who had been dead longer, and who had just eaten. And the _smell… _It was a good thing we hadn't eaten lunch yet, I'll leave it at that.

Beckendorf and Grover tag-teamed on the fire escape, to keep the zombies away while Leo got to work.

Let me tell you, it is no cakewalk to be fighting the undead on a glass rooftop. I had to watch my step to make sure I didn't step on a crack and fall through. Not only that, we had to make sure not to get eaten as well.

They surrounded us, attacked from all sides. We'd chop up one only to have two more replace it. Leo hurry it up…

"We're clear!" Leo yelled, and joined us in the fight with his hammer. The crowd of living dead thinned out as Grover, Beckendorf, and Leo joined the fight.

"HELP US!" Shouts were coming up from beneath us. We could hear it now that there wasn't any zombie groaning anymore.

A scream.

Annabeth.

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

We were outnumbered ten to one. I was getting tired, and my reflexes were getting slower. One… woman… nearly got a chunk of my leg. I think my scream might have shattered more glass.

The others were taking down their own menaces on opposite ends of the room. One zombie stood in front of me.

My heart was pounding and I was about to pass out. This one was too fast for me. I turned to run, hoping to get a chance to catch a breath for just a second. There was too much blood, though. The moment I turned I slipped and fell into a pile of dark red goo. The rotting, bloody zombie stumbled down next to me, moaning and groaning for flesh. Oh god, this is what happened to my family, this is what happened to Silena.

This is what Luke was now.

I screamed, and kicked and punched, but he kept grabbing my wrists...

"No! Stop it_! Please_! NO!" I screeched, "Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"

"Annabeth!" My eyes burst open to find bright green blurring about three inches from my face. He had my wrists caught in an iron grip, and his knee was holding down my flailing legs, "It's ok."

"B-b-but h-he w-was…" I stammered. That's when I saw it, the head. The zombie head staring blankly at me from its place on the floor, three feet from the body. It was a clean cut, one that only a sword could make. My vision blurred, and I realized that they were tears.

"Hey," Percy said softly placing a gentle hand on my cheek, "Hey, it's ok." His arms were around me, squeezing me tightly to him. Without even realizing what I was doing I gripped his shirt in my hands and buried my face in his neck as I sobbed.

All of it was catching up to me now. For years now I'd suppressed the fear and anxiety and pain. But feeling so helpless brought it all back to me, and I collapsed underneath the weight of it all. The weight itself was coming out in tears.

And then there was Percy, letting me soak his shirt in water as he gently stroked my hair and told me everything would be ok. I hadn't been this close to anyone in a long time. He was warm, and smelled like… well, he smelled like death.

"You stink," I muttered into his shoulder. A chuckle shook his body.

"Back at you," He pulled away from me just enough to look me in the face. There was blood spattered on him, and his hair was drying to his forehead from a mixture of sweat and blood. Percy put his hands on the sides of my neck and caressed my cheeks with his thumbs, "Are you ok?" I pursed my lips, but nodded.

"I'm fine," I whispered hoarsely. His eyebrows were furrowed together with worry. It was kind of cute in an endearing way.

"Ahem," Thalia had her arms crossed, and her jaw was set in such a way that I knew she was concerned for me, "We have some bodies to dispose of, and a roof to stabilize."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I am sooo sorry this took me sooo long to update! Busy few weeks, I won't bore you! Anyways, I'm back on the old schedule of update every few days. Here you go, it's a little itty bit shorter than normal, but I'll make up for it next time!**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"We need to go out on a raid tonight." Nico stated two days after the break-in, "We're running low on supplies again." It was true, this morning we were all eating a piece of toast. For lunch we probably had a little bit of fruit left. We might have enough cheese and bread left for sandwiches tonight.

I'd asked Juniper about where they'd gotten all their stocks from a few days before. Apparently when the epidemic hit Manhattan, citizens had been advised to freeze all of their perishables. Each raid they went on, the Troop would take what they could scavenge from somebody's freezer and bring it to the one that Leo had fixed down in the hotel's main kitchen.

"We'll have to go even farther this time. We've cleaned out the city for about a mile in all directions." Grover said. Juniper reached over to hold his hand while Daisy clung to his leg.

"I think you should stay behind, G-man. Protect the base." Percy advised. Grover frowned.

"I'm you guy's best runner. If you're going that far out of the way you'll need me." He argued. Percy was about to say something back, but Daisy stopped him.

"Daddy, no." Daisy whimpered quietly, "Last time people left, Connor and Travis didn't come back." The room went cold and silent.

The Stoll brothers sacrifice. Nico had told Thalia about it. The last raid that the Troops went on they'd been ambushed. The Stoll brothers had led the zombies in the opposite direction, allowing the team a chance to get back to the base. Six people had gone on that raid, and only four had returned.

"You're staying here, Grover." Percy said quietly, "End of discussion." Grover didn't argue. He just picked up Daisy, and held her tight to his chest.

"Why don't we get a map, set up a trail to follow, maybe figure out some times…?" My mind started racing to all the possibilities.

"We don't have the daylight for that. Troop 1, we're leaving. Now." Percy said, and stood up, shouldering his sword.

"Wait a second," I protested, "You're just going to jump into a dangerous situation like this?" Percy raised a single eyebrow at me.

"We don't have the time to make a full schedule! We're running out of food, and we're running out of sunlight."

"If we just leave with no plan of attack, how do we know that we're not running into a nest or something?" Percy didn't even flinch at me.

"If we don't leave right now, Daisy may have to go a day without food. Do you want that?" That is cold. I stood up straight and stepped right up in front of him, arms crossed.

"If we leave right now with no clue what we're getting into, it's very possible that not all of us will come back alive. Do _you_ want _that_?" Percy's eyes narrowed into an intense glare.

"That's always a possibility, whether we have a plan or not." Ok, he had a point. But my pride was too strong to admit it.

"But having at least a little bit of an idea will minimize the possibility!"

"You know what, Annabeth." Percy took a step back, "You can stay here and make a map of Manhattan with little stars where the best places to get eaten are." He spat, "Meanwhile, I'm getting out of here and getting the supplies that we need to survive." I grit my teeth, and stared him down. This wasn't getting us anywhere, and I knew it.

"Fine," I unsheathed my dagger and held it in my hand, "But when someone doesn't make it back, don't blame me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said through a clenched jaw, "Troop 1 lets head out." Only then did I realize that the whole time, everyone had just been staring at us. Nico, Thalia, and Beckendorf all stood and headed towards the door.

"Guys?" Grover said. He looked at us with big, brown eyes, "Stay safe."

"We'll do what we can." Percy said grimly, "Hold down the fort, Jason."

"Keep my sister safe," At that, Percy just nodded. But we all knew there were no promises when it came to stuff like this.

"And keep Leo away from my room!" Nico yelled from the hallway.

"One time! You can't take a joke!"

"I'd rather not have worms in my bed AGAIN!"

"GUYS!" Percy shouted, "Raid now, and argue with each other later." How could anyone argue with that brilliant logic?

The sun was still low in the sky, so the ground was pretty cold. Dust and debris swirled around our ankles as we trudged away from the plaza. Percy took the lead, naturally, and started heading down the street, past what used to be the biggest toy store in the U.S. Thalia fell into step beside me, taking up the rear.

"What happened?" Thalia never was one to beat around the bush, "Just a few days ago you two were all buddy-buddy and now you're at each other's throats." I just shrugged.

"Hormones?" She gave me her famous "you're-kidding-me-right?" look.

"Ever since the zombies broke in you guys have been acting weird with each other. Why?" _Why_? What did she mean _why_? Wasn't it clear?

Percy saw me lying in a pool of zombie guts, about to be eaten. He saw me in a helpless state, and then he saw me cry. I looked weak. The way things are now; I can't afford to look weak to anyone. Especially Percy.

And then he was there comforting me, holding me. It was weird. I wasn't ready for a relationship. In this world, I just don't have the time. The next day when he asked me to train with him like always, I said no. Then when he tried to talk to me over dinner I had given him simple one-word answers. Percy was dense, but he wasn't completely oblivious. He got the hint that I wanted him to back off. For the past few days things have gotten really tense between us.

I didn't want to tell her that second part. Thalia was a meddler. My foot kicked a can down the street as I spoke.

"He swooped in and rescued me. I'm not some damsel in distress, and I don't want to be seen that way by any of you."

"The last thing anyone thinks when they see you, is _weak_." I didn't look up, "Things are serious here, Annabeth. We all need help sometimes and you need to just accept that." With that she jogged ahead to walk with Nico.

After about a half an hour of walking, Percy stopped.

"This is the last place we raided. The next building over will be fresh." He pointed to an old grey building. It looked like it had once been a diner or something, "A place like that will have a lot of useful stuff. Spread out, take as much as you can, and get out. Nico you come with me, Beckendorf go with Thalia and Annabeth." I bit my tongue. Sure, send the toughest fighter with the two girls to even things out. How sexist is that?

The door had been boarded up, but the wood had rotted so badly it wasn't hard to kick it in. It looked like this was one of those fifties-themed restaurants complete with a dusty old jukebox in the corner.

"It looks like someone used this place as a base for a little while." Nico said, kicking a makeshift bed on the floor.

"Their stuff's still here though." I stooped down to inspect a backpack on the floor, "But it's all dusty." I wiped off my hands and straightened up, "Whatever got them, got them in here. Keep an eye out. They might still be inside." The guys gripped their swords, and Thalia lifted an arrow.

Percy and Nico decided to check the basement for a freezer or food storage while the three of us searched above ground.

The guys who'd been here before us must not have been here long because the kitchen still had most of it's stock. I kicked at the only empty can rolling around the room.

"Lucky us," Thalia said with a slight smirk, "It's a good thing zombies don't like canned peaches." She said, reading the label.

"If they did we wouldn't even be here, now would we?" I pointed out.

"Touché."

"Focus. Thalia, you and me will gather as much food as we can while Annabeth gets other supplies we might need." The two of them started to pack up food while I returned to the front area of the restaurant.

We were lucky. These guys had left blankets, pillows, a couple first aid kits, and some clothes that looked like they'd fit the guys.

"Jackpot!" I called as I stuffed my bag, "We've got …" I turned around to face the back counter, and trailed off, "Company."

I was right before, these guys had never left the base after they'd been bitten. Two… er… _guys_, came out from the side hallway. They'd been dead a long time; most of their skin had rotted away. What was left was green, and pulled tight across their bones. The zombie's once-brown hair was now a sickly puke color, and only hung on in little tufts here and there. One was a little taller than the other, but other than that they could have been twins. Their glazed over, milky white eyes stared blankly into space.

That is until they focused on me, of course.

"Graaahhh," I think that's zombie for _Oh goody! Dinner time! _

"You hungry, boys?" I taunted, flashing my knife at them. They roared, and charged. I assume that meant yes. I swiped with my knife, and chopped off the hand of the first zombie. Dark, black blood flowed from the wound. He howled as Beckendorf and Thalia burst out of the kitchen.

"What the…?" Beckendorf just stood there, looking in horror at the two undead before me. Had he never seen a zombie before?!

Thalia on the other hand burst into action, shooting arrows like it was nobody's business. She shot a perfect bulls-eye directly into the spine of the first one's neck. With a quick swipe from me, his head was rolling. The second dodged her arrow at the last second and swung his arm towards her. The blow hit her in the chest, and she fell backwards, hitting her head on one of the stools.

"Thalia!" I shouted, but she didn't respond. I turned my rage on the zombie and stabbed him in the gut. He staggered, but kept on coming for me. One swipe to the front of his neck, one more to the back, and he was dead. For good.

"What happened?" Nico demanded as him and Percy bounded up the stairs, "We heard fighting and…" They stopped cold when they caught sight of the two beheaded zombies at my feet.

"It's ok, we got them." I said, strapping my knife back to my waist, "But Thalia hit her head."

"Just a bump," She coughed, slowly sitting up and massaging her temples, "I'll be ok." The three guys still didn't say anything. Nico and Beckendorf were rooted to the spot. Only Percy stepped forward to kneel beside the bodies. He bent his head low over them, and placed a hand on one of their foreheads.

"Thalia, Annabeth," He looked up at us. For the first time, I saw Percy with tears in his eyes, "Meet the Stoll brothers."

We decided to bury the Stolls, in hopes that they would achieve peace at last. There was a good patch of grass just around the corner. Within the hour, the Stolls were six feet under.

"We should say something," Thalia suggested, "Like they used to do at funerals." We all agreed, and Nico decided to go first.

"These guys were…. Well they were something." He smirked, "They were the best pranksters for miles around."

"They kept everyone smiling, even in our darkest times." Percy added in.

"And they were really brave, never scared to do the right thing." Beckendorf said.

"May they rest in peace." For a little while, the five of us just stood there around their graves. After a little while, Percy reached out and squeezed my hand. I'm pretty sure he did it without thinking, but I blushed anyways.

"We should head back." I whispered. We all nodded, and began the long walk home.

Beckendorf and Nico walked at the lead, heads bowed. Thalia and I walked behind them, and Percy took up the rear, walking by himself.

"I'm gonna talk to him." I whispered to Thalia. She nodded, and jogged ahead of me while I fell back to walk alongside Percy. He didn't even acknowledge me. He just kept kicking a pebble ahead of him on the dusty road.

"Percy?" I asked softly. He looked up with blank eyes.

"Hm?" He grunted.

"Are you…" I stopped mid-question. It was a stupid question anyways, "Can I help?" Still stupid, but better. Percy looked down again.

"You know how I met the Stolls?" He asked. I shook my head, "Me, Grover, and Nico were friends as kids. Nico practically lived at my house. His wasn't so…" Percy quit talking, cursed himself, and continued, "When the epidemic hit, the three of us were at summer camp. Our head counselor got turned, and most of the other campers were either eaten or turned." I shuddered. An entire camp filled with kids…

"The three of us got away and escaped to the city. By then there were still people here." He noticeably tensed, and kicked the pebble so hard that it hit a nearby lamppost with a small _ding_, "We went to my apartment building, hoping that my mom and stepdad were home. They were." He said coldly. His sea green eyes were shining with sadness and hatred, "We were so scared, and had no idea what was going on. The three of us just stood there, staring at them. She was so pale…" Percy whispered, "We would have been killed if the Stolls hadn't broken in from the fire escape and…" Again, he trailed off, but I understood what he meant.

"I'm so sorry, Percy." I whispered. He brought his sleeve up to wipe away the few tears that had escaped.

"It was years ago." He said, "Afterwards, the Stolls explained what was going on, and we all teamed up. For a little while we just ran around the city, hiding where we could and stealing what we needed. The Stolls really had a knack for pick-pocketing." A small smirk appeared on his face, "Before long we ran into Juniper hiding out at our old elementary school. We'd been classmates in school. Grover had had a crush on her for ages. It only took a zombie apocalypse to get him to ask her out." Percy laughed a little bit, "Over time we met up with everyone else. Still, we were all just traveling around the city. At one point we went to the National History museum and found the weapons we use nowadays." He pulled his sword from his belt loop, "This was a sword they used way back in ancient Greece. It's name is _Anaklusmos_, or Riptide in English. Grover still preferred his baseball bat though." He shook his head in disbelief, "Then we found the base about two years ago and we've been living there ever since."

"Wow," Percy was braver than I'd thought. He'd had to watch his parents get killed. At least I'd had the luxury of being out of the house.

"What about you and Thalia? How'd you guys survive?" Percy asked as he turned to face me. For a second I couldn't hear him. His eyes were just staring, and a couple of tears had clung to his eyelashes.

"What?" I asked. He smirked again.

"What's your story?" Without my meaning to, I blushed. There were some things in my past I certainly didn't want to tell him.

"Thalia and I were best friends as kids. Our houses were directly across from each other on our street. When the zombies attacked our families, we were both at the park around the block." I swallowed hard. I hadn't thought about this in a while, "We never saw our families turn. While we were there, Jason and one of the other kids that lived in our neighborhood, Luke," My stomach turned at just saying his name, "They came running up to us. T-they told us that zombies had come and eaten Thalia and Jason's parents. Luke's entire family got turned. My father and two step brothers got turned, and then they ate my step mother." Five years later and just saying that still made me want to vomit, "I have no idea what happened to my older brother, Malcolm."

"By then almost the entire city was overrun, so the four of us got out. Jason had just earned his learner's permit, so Luke hot-wired a car and we drove away. I think we got as far as Colorado before the engine gave out. We walked for a day or so before finally resting at an old motel." I winced, "That's where things got complicated. A dozen zombies ambushed us, and we had to split up to get away. Thalia and I were alone for a couple of days in an old gas station before Luke finally found us. He said him and Jason had gotten separated along the way, and that Jason had most likely died. Thalia was distraught. For a while there, I was almost positive we were all gonna die." My voice got soft on that last sentence.

"But you didn't," Percy added in. I nodded.

"We didn't," I agreed, "It was Luke really. He sort of became the leader of our little group, and saved my life so many times I've lost track." I sniffled, and realized that I'd started crying talking about him, "For a few years the three of us traveled the country just trying to survive. We did a pretty good job of it for the most part." I took a deep breath, "We became really close…" Percy's brow was furrowed in concern, "Eventually we met up with this one group of people. They told us that they were scientists, and that they were pretty sure they could make a cure. For a little while we followed them around, trying to make a cure. One day, the group of them went to search for an ingredient and never came back. After that, the three of us continued to work on the cure. We were getting closer." I said, "But then, about a year ago, we were sleeping in a Laundromat somewhere in Virginia. We didn't see the one zombie in the backroom. Luke went to look for a blanket or something, and then we heard the screams." How many times was I going to cry in front of this guy?

"What happened next?" Percy asked.

"It already had it's teeth sunk into his shoulder. The last thing he told us was to run." I closed my eyes. The sun was just starting to set, making Percy's eyes look like they were glowing.

"Were you… a-and Luke…" He stuttered a little bit.

"No, we were best friends, nothing else." I lied. _That_ was one part of my past that I wanted to keep between me, Luke, and Thalia. His shoulders relaxed just the smallest bit.

"Did you ever finish the cure?" Percy questioned. I opened my eyes and looked at him. My hand slipped into my pocket and pulled out a flask. His eyes widened.

"I'm still working on it. We're so close, I only need a couple more ingredients. The problem is, that most of them are chemicals that I can't really find in a grocery store."

"What about a science classroom?" He asked, "We used to do all kinds of different experiments in my middle school. The teacher had a fridge full of different vials of stuff." My heart leapt up into my throat.

"Really?!" I asked with excitement, "You think it's still there?"

"There's one way to find out." He squinted into the sunlight, "We're almost back to the base, and just in time too. Before long it'll be too dark to be outside anymore. We can go tomorrow to look." Excitement shot through me. This could be it!

"Thank you so much, Percy!" I said, and threw my arms around him without even thinking.

"Uh…um… no problem!" He stammered and awkwardly patted my back. I pulled back with a slight blush.

"Sorry about that." I muttered. He waved it off.

"Don't mention it," He said under his breath, "But it'll be dangerous, the school's in a part of town that's a lot more… populated, then ours. Are you sure that this cure will work?" I simply stared at him.

"If it doesn't, then we're all dead anyways."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Sorry I take so long lately. I've been catching up on school work. Yeah, lame excuse, I'm sorry *bows head in shame* but I will not let a full week go by without updating! Hopefully... usually**

**And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to make this story kind of tie in with the series. Little things here and there that coincide with the series, you know... **

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"You want to do _what?!"_ Frank burst out. We'd just gotten back and finished telling our tale of sorrow. Grover's face when we told him about the Stoll brothers… that would be in my nightmares tonight.

And Percy had just dropped the biggest bomb of all on them… the one that involved people going to a majorly zombie-infested area in search of cure ingredients that may or may not still be there.

"You heard me," Percy said, "And the sooner, the better."

"That's really dangerous, Perce. There's a ninety-nine percent chance only half of us would come back." Nico said, "And I mean half of _each _of us. As in one leg, one arm, five fingers…"

"Understood." Percy interjected, "But come on, this could be it! This could mean the end of this hell we're living in! Isn't it worth the chance?" Even Thalia looked unsure, and she knew more about this than most of the people in here. Percy himself was looking a little green, and he was encouraging this. It was time I stepped in.

"Percy's right." I said, walking to stand beside him, "If the ingredients I need are there, then we could start the end of all of this. Either we take the chance, or we spend the rest of our lives fighting, and then making our kids fight, and our grandkids, and so on." Juniper took one look down at little Daisy, asleep by her side, and spoke.

"I think it's worth a shot." She said quietly, "I don't want Daisy to have to live like this anymore." Grover wrapped an arm around his wife.

"I agree." Everyone, even pessimistic Nico, was looking a lot more determined now.

"When do we leave?" Piper asked.

"_We_ are not all going. Troop Two, stay back and protect the base." Percy ordered.

"Hey! You guys got to go on the raid!" Jason argued, "I've got a fresh Troop, ready for action." Percy pursed his lips.

"Jason has a point," I said, surprising Percy, "After today, Nico, Beckendorf, and Thalia need to rest."

"We need just as much as you two," Thalia said, "And this project was you, me, and Luke's. I should come with." She argued.

"Thalia has a point too," Percy said with a smug look at me, which I returned with a glare.

"Compromise: Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Beckendorf, me, and Jason go." Nico said.

"That leaves the base without some of it's strongest fighters," Jason protested.

"Thanks for the bout of confidence, Jason." Piper muttered, "Me, Hazel, Grover, and Frank are perfectly capable of keeping this place safe on our own."

"What about me?" Leo asked with a pout. Piper just raised an eyebrow.

"We'll need a Repair Boy in case the toilet clogs up." She teased.

"You wanna go, Beauty Queen?" Leo mockingly raised one of his screwdrivers towards her.

"So it's all settled!" Hazel interjected, "We got this, Perce. When do you leave?" He took a look out the window at the pitch-black street.

"This is dangerous, so we'll need to plan out some things." He admitted grudgingly, "Me and Annabeth will come up with strategies tomorrow and we'll leave the day after."

"Are the rest of us not allowed to plan with you two?" Nico asked with a single eyebrow raised and a small smile on his lips.

"No! I mean yes, I mean… you can if you want to…" Percy stammered, which only made his face redder.

"No, no, we'll all do a little extra training tomorrow and leave you guys to it." Thalia said with such obvious double meaning that I was pretty sure even oblivious Frank would understand.

Thanks for the blush, Thals. Juniper winked knowingly at me. Oh god…

"Now that all of that is settled, goodnight everyone." I said quickly and turned on my heel to exit the awkward atmosphere.

"Night guys," Percy's voice carried faintly down the hall as I briskly walked to my door. _Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it…_

"Hey Annabeth, wait a sec." _Crap. _I took a deep breath and turned to face Percy, standing in the middle of the hallway staring at me.

"Yeah?" Percy's sneakers made a squeaky sound as he shuffled his feet on the floor.

"I want to talk to you about today." My heart sunk down into my stomach. I was hoping we could skip this conversation.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't realize who they were, if I had I wouldn't have…"

"What? No!" Percy interrupted me, "No, not that. If you and Thalia hadn't acted, we probably would have joined them in their fates today." He said, "I meant what I told you on the way home."

"You mean about your mom?" I asked. Percy nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah…" I noticed that his eyes stayed shut just a little bit longer when he blinked, "Only Grover, Nico, me and Juniper know about her." He swallowed hard. Acting on instinct, I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I won't tell anyone." I promised, "I get it." And I did. The same way that Beckendorf wanted to keep Silena to himself, Percy wanted to keep his mother as personal as possible. I was doing the same with Luke in a sense, not telling anyone he'd been my boyfriend. Percy looked up and smiled at me.

"Thanks," I nodded, and retracted my hand before it got _more_ awkward.

"No problem," I muttered, "See you tomorrow."

"Meet me down at the pool, we can figure things out there." He suggested. If I could keep my head clear with all the chlorine in there that is.

* * *

**Percy POV**

Bright and early the next morning I was diving into the room-temperature water of the pool. Even as a kid I'd done some of my best thinking underneath the surface. It was above land where my stupid ideas came into play.

"Percy?" The sound came from above the surface, so it sounded more like "Purblee?" My head popped up just enough so my chin still rested on the top of the water.

"You rang?" I raised an eyebrow. Annabeth stood on the edge with her arms crossed over a map on her chest, and her hip jutted out. Today she wore a plain black t-shirt and the same camouflage pants she'd shown up in along with some simple sneakers. I'd seen Piper and Hazel in the same thing before, but they looked nothing like Annabeth.

"You wanted to plan in here…" She prompted.

"Yep, so let's plan." I said and folded my arms on the side of the pool. The cold tile made goose bumps rise up on my arms, but I ignored it.

"Ok then…" She muttered and pulled up a plastic chair on the side of the pool next to me. Annabeth spread out the map of Manhattan on the tiles and started pointing things out, "I was thinking we could head up this street…"

Later on I would blame my zone-out on ADHD, but in that moment I was just staring at Annabeth. Her head tilted just a little to the left as she spoke and made a couple strands of golden curls fall down into her eyes.

_Snap, snap, snap_. She snapped her fingers underneath my nose.

"Percy, were you listening at all?" She asked with a disapproving grimace.

"You were talking about streets probably…" She rolled her grey eyes.

"You've got seaweed for a brain…" She muttered. I raised an eyebrow.

"Seaweed? Interesting choice…"

"Well, your eyes are the color of seaweed. I think that's because pigments from the seaweed in your brain blended into your irises because of all the time you spend in the water." I only understood about half of what she said.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl."

"Oh-ho, Wise Girl? Real clever." Annabeth didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. I flicked my hand so that droplets of water splashed against her face, "Hey! Watch the map!" She said with irritation as she wiped water off of the piece of paper, "It was pretty hard for me to get my hands on this, you know."

"Just tell me what we're doing tomorrow, Chase." She huffed, but did as I asked.

"We head down this street, go the long way around, and enter the school through the roof where, hopefully, we'll have less zombies." She said, "We're in, we're out, piece of cake." Her words sounded brave, but her voice was trembling a little bit.

"You're right, piece of cake." I repeated as confidently as I could. Annabeth didn't answer, but instead turned her head to look through a crack in the boarded up windows at the dusty world outside.

"Even if this cure does work, it'll be a long time before things go back to normal." She said thoughtfully, "We'll be lucky if America returns to it's former state by the time Daisy's a great-grandma."

"All good things take time and effort." I said. Her head swiveled to look at me again, much more intense this time.

"Yeah," She agreed, "They do."

* * *

Riptide clanked against my thigh as I bounded down the stairs to the lobby where the group was meeting. It was just before dawn, so everything was still dark. Juniper and Grover stood by the door, with Daisy on her father's shoulders. Annabeth leaned against the doorframe beside Thalia and Nico, wearing worn-out old jeans and a black hoodie like myself. Black was a good color when fighting zombies, it didn't catch their eye as bad as brighter colors.

"Stay safe, man." Leo said and pounded me on the back, "When you get back, I'll make tacos!" Leo grinned at me as though he'd just solved our biggest problem. If only.

"Crunchy shells," I requested, patting his shoulder affectionately.

"You got it, Perce." My eyes drifted to Jason and Piper, holding each other tightly in a goodbye. It had been a long time since Jason had been in a fight without Piper. Then again we were hoping for no fight.

"We'll see all of you tonight," Hazel said firmly. Frank simply nodded. He never had been very good with his words.

"Promise," Juniper and Grover just hugged us all with tears in their eyes. I watched as Daisy waddled over to Annabeth and tugged on her sleeve. The tubby little five year old pulled out a crumpled piece of construction paper and handed it to her.

"I drew you a picture, Annabeth." She said. Annabeth smiled, and got down on her knees beside Daisy, staring at the piece of paper. It was a good thirty seconds before she responded.

"I love it, thank you Daisy." She kissed Daisy's cheek, who giggled and ran back to her mother. Annabeth looked down at the picture, smiled again, and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans and standing up.

"Good luck out there," Grover said as me, Annabeth, Nico, Thalia, Jason, and Beckendorf gathered at the door.

"Good luck in here," I said. He nodded grimly.

I ripped of a small chunk of wood that we'd intentionally made removable so that we could look outside before leaving. The street was empty except for one or two zombies roaming aimlessly away.

"It's as safe as it'll ever be." I sighed.

"Let's do this." Nico said determinedly, swinging his sword in a circle. Together, me and Jason opened up our makeshift door. The Troop set out into the early morning.

_Well, I've lived a nice life._

* * *

It would take about two hours of walking to get from base to the school, and near the end we'd have to be extra careful because of all the zombies.

A half hour into the trip we came across our first batch of three or four zombies, feeding on… scratch that, I don't even want to know. Dealing with these small groups was a lot trickier than it should be. We had to keep it quiet, so that we didn't attract any other nearby flesh-eaters. I gave a single look to Beckendorf and Nico, and both knew what to do. The three of us stuck to the shadows of a nearby building and crept as close as we could while Thalia, Jason and Annabeth watched from the overhang of a used-to-be boutique.

One swipe, two swipes, three, and they're… more dead than they were before.

"Clean," Thalia commented.

"Our specialty." Nico replied with a smug grin.

"What is? Winning against opponents with a third their normal brain capacity, or losing to ones that can fight back?" Thalia mocked him, and the gothic boy turned red. Whether it was from anger or embarrassment, I don't know. Maybe both?

And with that the two started to banter/bicker back and forth as the rest of us looked on with an amused expression. It's nice to know I'm not the only guy with girl issues lately.

"We can finish this when we get back," I cut in after a few minutes of random name-calling, "Right now we have a job to do, and the sun will set in about… five hours? Six?" I guessed judging from it's position in the sky.

"He's right, we need to move." Annabeth said.

"Stop!" Jason called. The entire group tensed, and had their weapons pointed in all directions, "Did Annabeth just say that Percy was right?" Thalia groaned and punched her brother, letting her weapons drop.

"Why I think she did," I said, turning to look at the blushing blonde, "Didn't you?"

"Wasting sunlight." Annabeth mumbled, and started trekking ahead of all of us. Thalia snickered, and jogged after her.

"You know, Percy," Jason said as he took up a walk beside me, "Annabeth's dad's a zombie, and her older brother is MIA, so I'm kind of next in line…" I raised an eyebrow.

"What're you getting at here, Jason?"

"I'm just saying that as Annabeth's presiding fatherly figure, it's my job to tell you that if you break her heart…"

"Dude!" Jason held his palms up towards me.

"I'm just saying…"

"That's not a problem, Jason. We aren't like that." Wow that was such a bad lie, I'm pretty sure the zombies would have been able to tell. Jason just smirked at me.

"Whatever Percy, just keep her happy and we won't have an issue." He winked, and fell back to walk next to Nico.

The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. We came across one or two more zombies, but they weren't even a problem. It was when we were within about a half a mile of Goode Middle School that we had to start being a little sneakier. More and more undead could be seen wandering aimlessly around the streets the closer we got.

I'll admit it, Annabeth was right about the whole planning thing. She immediately led the group into a back alley and up a fire escape without one of the flesh-eaters noticing. We raced across the top of a roof and somehow ended up right next to the building we needed. It was about a five-foot jump to get to the roof of Goode. Annabeth didn't even slow down. She just jumped the gap, and continued on.

"Don't tell her I said this, but Annabeth is pretty fierce." Nico said in admiration.

"Keep your eyes to yourself, Nico." I growled. He smirked at me.

"You're such a sucker, Perce."

"Shut up…" I muttered, and followed her onto the roof of Goode.

"School buildings have to follow the code…" She muttered, "It should be around here somewhere…" Annabeth had us twist around different pipes and corners until we reached a utility door.

"How do you know so much about this?" I asked, "I went to school here and I didn't know this was here." Jason picked up a stray crowbar that was lying underneath a big pipe and started working the door.

"I like architecture." She said, "When me, Luke, and Thalia were traveling around together..." She explained, eyeing Jason as he worked at the door with no luck, "For goodness sakes let me do it!" She huffed, and pushed Jason away. She spit on her hands, and began pulling on the bar, "As I was saying, I picked up a lot of books on buildings and stuff." A bead of sweat formed on the nape of her neck as she tried to pry open the door.

"Wait a sec," I said and put a hand on the crowbar to stop her from getting it open, "What if there are zombies on the other side?"

"There aren't." She said surely, "This door leads to a set of stairs that lead to a locked door that was almost never unlocked even when school actually happened here. Besides, if somehow they had gotten in, wouldn't they be groaning and banging against the door right now?" Ok, that makes sense.

With a final grunt and shove, the hinges gave way and the door snapped open.

"And that's how it's done." She said proudly. Ok… wow. That was kind of hot.

"I loosened it," Jason grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Of course you did," Thalia pat his shoulder, "Whatever keeps you motivated." Nico snickered.

"Shut up, Nico!" Jason snapped.

"Guys!" I shouted. Not shouted, because of the dangerous open door, but said louder, "Not the time." They always wanted to argue at the worst moments! Annabeth brushed her hands together.

"Now I've studied floor plans for this school, and there are three different science classrooms on opposite sides of the building. What we want to do is get in and out as quickly as possible, and it'll take too long for us all to go to each one."

"Easy fix, we just split into teams of two and tackle all three at once. Then we can meet up in the cafeteria to make our escape." I suggested, "Nico's with Thalia, you guys work well together in training. Go to Ms. Gottschalk's old room." Annabeth gave me a smirk behind Thalia's shoulder, "Beckendorf why don't you go with Jason? The door to the classroom closest to the gym is probably pretty sticky after all this time, and it'll take the both of you to pry it open." I turned my eyes to Annabeth, "And you and I can go to Mr. Hamm's old room." Nico opened his mouth to make a joke, but one look from Beckendorf silenced him. He gave me the: _I'll give it to you later_ look.

"Gather what you can, and meet in the cafeteria as soon as you possible." Annabeth said, pulling her dagger from her belt loop, "Be careful, stay safe." Nobody made any promises.

* * *

**Nico POV**

Why are my palms so sweaty? Ok dude, just be cool.

Beckendorf and Jason had just headed down the hallway on the left while Annabeth and Percy went up the staircase.

It was really weird being in a school again. It had been a while since I'd walked the long halls. Even this dusty old place with rotting walls and blinking light bulbs made me nostalgic. I must admit, the only good thing that came from the zombie apocalypse was that I no longer had homework.

"You used to go to school here, right?" Thalia asked, "You know your way around?" I shook my head.

"No, I was still in elementary school. But my older sister, Bianca, she went here so I know where to go." Thalia raised an eyebrow. She had really pretty, electric blue eyes.

"You had an older sister?" Did I tell her that? This girl makes me forget what I should and shouldn't say to people.

"Um, yeah. Bianca." I said, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. I didn't give her any more details. My family history wasn't exactly the best…

"Bianca," Thalia repeated, "That sounds really familiar…" I bit my tongue to hide my panic.

"Uh… I guess she just has one of those names, you know?" She still didn't look convinced. Crap.

As we walked, I tried to ignore the suspicious looking stains on the walls, and stench of rotting flesh, and the dark shadows that stared at the two of us from around every corner. Only a couple of flickering lights showed up in the hallway.

We rounded the corner and came upon the broken-in door of Ms. Gottschalk's old classroom.

"Come on," I said, and pulled Thalia towards the store room located in the back, "Keep your eyes peeled since the door was open." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I think I know how these things go, Death Breath." I'm not even sure how she came up with that name.

"Whatever," I muttered, and walked into the dim storage room, "Get what you can, stuff it in your pack, and lets get out of here!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm moving!" She went around the room, grabbing different medical kits, lighters, basic stuff. I, on the other hand, went to the small containment unit in the back of the room and opened it up. After all these years, these vials had stayed totally perfect inside this box. In all there were about ten or twelve little vials with rubber stoppers. I took each one, wrapped it in a sock, and put it in a shoebox in my backpack. It was Annabeth's idea, since we couldn't just put glass vials in a bag and run.

"You ready yet?" Thalia asked. I nodded.

"Yeah almost." She leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her pack.

"Nico?"

"Hm?"

"If I tell you about my family, will you tell me about yours?" I paused for a second in my sock-wrapping.

"Maybe." She rolled her pretty eyes.

"You know what? If I tell you, then you'll feel guilty and tell me." Nah, I stopped feeling guilty a couple years ago.

"Go for it," I muttered and stuffed another sock in the box. She took a deep breath.

"My mom was a movie star," She said, "But she was one of the ones that stayed out all night, drinking and smoking, and then brought home random men…" She shuddered, "I was only ten, so I didn't even realize what was going on." Her eyes closed, "My dad was never around. He left when I was a baby and never came back. Jason was the only real family I had. Him and Luke, that is. Jason and me lived next to Annabeth's family, and Luke lived across the street. He was Jason's best friend." She retold. Thalia told me all about her, Annabeth, and Luke's adventures. For some reason she glided over any details on Luke.

"Well…?" She prompted after finishing her story, "Feeling guilty yet?" Honestly? A little bit… damn it. I sighed and stood up, brushing the dust off my jeans.

"Listen, Thalia." I said seriously, "Whatever I tell you in the next few minutes, you need to swear to me not to tell anyone, not even Annabeth. This is stuff only Percy knows." She nodded and made an X over her chest.

"Cross my heart," I took a deep breath. What was I _doing_ telling her this stuff?!

"My mother's name was Maria. I didn't really get to know her that well, she died when I was five or six." And here comes the shocker, "She got murdered… by my father." Thalia's eyes noticeably widened, but she said nothing. "He was crazy and kind of obsessed with death. After my mom, he went to prison for life and me and Bianca were put into an orphanage." She said nothing, just listened.

"Bianca was really smart for her age. She started an internship in this science lab down the block." Thalia was smart. Considering the look that was probably on my face, she could most likely guess what I was gonna say next.

"She was working with the Fountain of Youth, wasn't she?" Thalia guessed. I looked down, but nodded.

"That's not even the worst part." I admitted, "She had been conducting her own research on the side, sneaking in and out of the labs at night. When they finally caught her... she'd already finished the vitamin." Thalia's hand drifted up to cover her open jaw, "The vitamin was gonna make them millions, so they let Bianca off the hook."

"So… your sister… your sister she, she did_ this? _She did all of this?" I nodded, but couldn't meet her eye, "Oh my god…"

"Please Thalia, please don't tell anyone. Everyone will hate me." Thalia stared down at me, so I looked at the floor. I don't even want to know what that sludge is by my shoe.

"I won't tell anyone." She promised quietly, "It doesn't matter anyways, what's done is done. What matters now is that we try to fix the damage."

* * *

**Beckendorf POV**

I'd never gone to this school, but all high schools were pretty much the same back then. Goode was making me miss Silena.

Silena. All my fault…

"I think this is it," Jason interrupted my thoughts, pointing to a door at the end of the hall, "You ready?" I nodded, and pulled out the crowbar I'd brought from the roof. Jason gripped the door while I stuck the crowbar into the edge. He pulled on the handle while I pushed on the metal. Rust and dead spiders rained down from the cracks of the door as it slowly creaked open. With a final groan the door burst open and about a hundred spiders came crawling out and over our boots. Jason shuddered and rolled his shoulders.

"Good thing Annabeth's not here, she'd scream so bad it'd attract every zombie in the city." Jason said shaking his feet.

"She's scared of spiders?" I asked. Jason nodded.

"Big time. Cannot stand them." That's odd. Annabeth's pretty tough. It's hard to believe she's scared of something so easily crushed under a boot.

The two of us walked cautiously into the dark, windowless room. Jason flicked on the light switch, and a single bulb flickered over our heads before sputtering out and submerging us in pitch black again. It was probably about eleven or so, but no light could come in since there weren't any windows.

"I guess we're doing this with flashlights." Jason sighed, and strapped on his headlight.

"Guess so." We weren't all that talkative. With the lights on, it was easier to see our surroundings. It was pretty obvious this place hadn't been used in a while. All the desks and counters were covered in a thin layer of dust, spider webs, and dead bugs like a dead man's parfait. Yuck.

"Rummage around and take what you can, I'll get the vials." Jason said as he slipped his backpack off his shoulders.

As I stuffed pens, a fire blanket, some paper, and other assorted goodies into my bag, my thoughts drifted back to the conversation me and Annabeth had had a while back. When I'd told her about Silena. I'm not sure why exactly I'd told Annabeth all those things, but it had felt good. Plus, Annabeth understood. She said she'd lost someone special too.

"Hey Jason?" I asked, he grunted in response, "Annabeth mentioned something to me earlier…" At her name, Jason perked up.

"You were talking with Annabeth?" Jason asked. I nodded.

"Uh, yeah." I said, "Anyways, she mentioned losing someone…special, a year ago." Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Annabeth? Well, I got separated from her and Thalia and Luke four years ago. Back then she was only twelve or thirteen, much too young for a boyfriend." Jason's eyebrows furrowed.

"What is it?" I asked. Jason tapped a finger on his chin.

"Thalia told me that Luke got bitten about a year ago…" Jason's voice slowed to a stop. His eyes widened in shock and realization, "Annabeth and Luke?!" He said it at a normal volume, but it was obvious that if we weren't surrounded by flesh-eaters, he'd be yelling.

"Wait, who's Luke?" I asked.

"Luke was our old neighbor… ah gross!" Jason shuddered more violently than he had when the spiders came out at us, "Luke was my best friend, and Annabeth was like a sister… ew!" Huh, well that sheds a little more light…

"She must have been devastated," I said. Jason sighed, and nodded.

"Couple or not, of course she'd be sad. Thalia was, and you should have seen me when I found out about what happened to him…" Jason shook his head to clear it, "It's probably best if nobody else knew about him and Annabeth. If _I_ didn't know about them, then I doubt she wants anyone else to know about it. Especially Percy."

"Are Annabeth and Percy…?" Jason smirked at me.

"No, not yet."

* * *

**Percy POV**

"Hurry up, will you?" Annabeth hissed, "What happened to "we get in, we get out"?" Her Percy-voice was terrible.

"I'm coming, don't get your panties in a knot!" She rolled her eyes, and opened the door of my old science classroom.

"Ah, old Mr. Hamm's room. Lots of good memories in here." I breathed in, and coughed at the smell of dust and corpse.

"Like what? Blowing up the classroom?" Annabeth asked as she kicked open the fridge in the corner.

"As a matter of fact…" I snuck a peek at the black mark on the wall. Annabeth followed my gaze, using the light coming in from the window.

"Oh, you didn't…" A smile painted her face, "You _blew up_ the classroom?" She asked in disbelief. I held up my hands in protest.

"He told us to create a chemical reaction, I created a chemical reaction!" Annabeth laughed.

"You're a Seaweed Brain." She teased.

"I do what I can," I said, patting my chest proudly. She rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever, lets just get this done and go home." Annabeth crouched down to look in the fridge, "Oh excellent! This is perfect!" She said to herself and started packing up the vials.

"Are you finding what you need?" I asked as I stuffed a couple jars in my pack.

"And more. There're a lot of useful chemicals in here." She turned to look at me with a glint in her eyes, "At least you didn't blow _these_ up." She teased.

"Oh shut up, Chase." She smiled, and turned back to her packing. I swallowed hard, and tried not to stare at her soft hair, her slightly pink cheeks, her grey eyes that had that little light in them whenever she laughed…

"Um… Percy?" I blinked, and realized she was staring at my staring, "Can I help you?" She had a hand on her hip and a joking smile on her face.

"Er no. I thought I saw a pen mark on your nose." I lied, trying hard to downplay my bright red face, "It was just a shadow." Annabeth blinked.

"Ok then…" She straightened up and shouldered her backpack, "I've got all the vials. You ready?" I opened my mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a muffled bang coming from somewhere in the adjoining room. Both our heads snapped toward the door.

"Done." I said quickly, and the two of us silently ran to the door and out into the empty hallway. My eyes started to water at the smell, but I ignored it.

"The cafeteria's this way." I jerked my head towards the door at the very end of the hallway. There was another bang behind us. A low groan could be heard.

Crap.

"Annabeth quick!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the cafeteria, running as quickly and as quietly as we could. I guess it didn't matter anymore, they could smell us…

The groaning got louder, and thumps started getting more consistent in one of the closed classrooms. I didn't waste time trying to get a look at what was in there. Annabeth and I reached the cafeteria just as the door burst open and the undead started pouring out.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. The two of us ripped open the cafeteria doors and slammed them shut just as one of the zombies collided with the door, pressing their face to the small slit of glass.

"Oh come on, man! You had to bring the flesh-eaters with you?" Nico yelled. Him, Thaila, Beckendorf and Jason were all sitting at one of the old lunchroom tables in the small cafeteria.

"Really not the time, Nico!" I said as I slid a broom handle through the handles to keep them out. About ten pairs of hands stuck through the crack, and five or six faces were pressed to the glass of the small windows. Annabeth wrinkled her nose, and turned slightly green.

"That won't hold them for long." She said, "Where's the back exit?"

"There isn't one." Nico said, his voice raising an octave higher in alarm.

"There's always one!" Thalia cried.

"Well we had a cheap school, alright! Everybody calm down and figure out a way to get out of here!" I said firmly.

"We can't break through the brick walls." Beckendorf said, "We might just have to fight our way out."

"There are probably two dozen zombies out there! We'll never make it alive." Annabeth said.

"We don't have a choice, Annabeth." I said with dead seriousness, "We fight, or we die trying."

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm not dying tonight." Thalia said, slinging her bow, "Lets beat those flesh-eaters into the ground." Jason said nothing, but reached out and hugged his sister. I took a deep, unsteady breath. The banging on the door became more persistent. The broom cracked, and we all pressed ourselves against the back wall.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I think... that I will torture you guys juuust a bit more ;) Here is a quick filler chapter just to prolong the agony, next chapter I've already started on so expect that within the next few days!  
BTW, in response to a review I got from a Guest: I have the entire plot planned out from start to finish, and you're nearly spot on! Wow!  
On a side note, a reminder that this is one of my cliche's. There are quite a few PJO zombie apocalypse stories out there, it wasn't my original idea, this is all part of my Cliche's Quest.**

* * *

**Piper POV**

"Hand me that pan, will you Juniper?" I asked, pointing a soapy finger towards the dirty dish on the counter. She reached out a small hand and handed it to me.

"Are you alright, Piper?" Juniper asked as she balanced Daisy on her hip.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because your hand is shaking like a leaf, you're pale as a ghost, and you offered to do the dishes for me." I looked down, and noticed tremors going through the water as my hands vibrated beneath the surface.

"Um… chills?" Juniper rolled her eyes.

"Daisy, why don't you go see if Daddy wants to play Birdy before he takes his shift, huh?" Daisy smiled. Birdy was a game Grover had invented, where he holds Daisy above his head and runs back and forth down the hall to make her feel like a bird. It wasn't unlike the Airplane game my dad used to play with me. I shut my eyes before the tears could slip.

"Ok Mommy!" The little toddler waddled off to find Grover in the next room. Juniper leaned against the counter and sighed as she watched her go.

"It won't be long before she's out there too, killing zombies." Juniper said unhappily. I reached out to pat her hand.

"It'll all be ok, Juniper. You'll see." She sniffled and wiped at her eyes.

"I can't think about that right now." Juniper mumbled, "Now then: what's wrong?" I swallowed hard and looked back down at the dishes.

"Nothing's wrong. Well nothing more than usual." I said. Juniper took a towel and started drying the clean dishes and stacking them on the counter.

"You're lying." She never was one to beat around the bush, "Come on Piper, something is bothering you." I grit my teeth.

"Well," I dropped a spoon into the water. It splashed water droplets on me, but I didn't care, "Isn't it obvious? Jason's out there, he may be alive, he may be dead, he may be both… I don't know!" I threw my hands into the water in frustration, sending soap flying over the counters. Juniper looked down and mopped up the soap.

"I get it, Piper. Really I do. Grover used to be the same way." Aw man, there's that burning in my nose that comes right before I cry.

"I-I just don't know how much more I can take!" My voice broke and my nose started running, "Is he injured, is he on his way home, is he even alive? The anxiety is gonna make me crack!" I cried.

"Ok! Ok, ok." Juniper said. She reached forward and unplugged the sink to let the water drain. With a feather light touch she wiped the bubbles off of my hands with her towel, "Believe me Piper, nobody understands what you're going through better than me." She threw the towel over her shoulder and gripped my hands in hers. Juniper was only four years older than me, but sometimes she seemed just so motherly that she may as well have been ten years older.

"I don't know what to do." I said hoarsely. Juniper pulled me closer and hugged me tightly.

"You pray that he comes back alive." Juniper whispered, "That's all we can do." I sniffled, and gripped the back of her shirt.

"I already lost my father, I can't lose Jason too." I cried into her shoulder. Juniper retracted, and led me to the couch where she sat me down and took her place on the coffee table in front of me.

"You never told me what happened to your father." She stated. I wiped my nose on my sleeve and looked down at my feet.

"What does it matter anymore?" I told the carpet miserably. It had been five years, what's the point in opening up those old wounds?

"Family always matters," Juniper said, "Dead or alive, now and forever." That was such a motherly response of hers. Over the years I'd learned not to argue with Juniper, because I'd always lose. Closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, I looked up to meet her light green eyes.

"My dad was a famous movie star back before all this." I said shakily, "We didn't see each other much, but he tried. I loved my dad." Another unsteady breath, "When the epidemic hit, my dad got bitten. And he told me to kill him before he killed me, but I couldn't do it." I choked, "I couldn't just kill my dad, just like that. It wasn't right, it wasn't human…" Tears were falling harder and harder.

"You don't have to keep going," Juniper whispered, but I shook my head. It was already out, why not go through it all the way?

"I waited too long. I tied his arm to the staircase, as a precaution. One morning I woke up… and he was one of them." I sniffled, and kept talking, "He was growling, and clawing towards me. I got scared and… and I stole his pistol… and I shot him." I finished in a tortured voice. Juniper didn't look at me with horror, or anger, she looked at me with sympathy.

"Oh sweetie…" She said, and enveloped me in a tight, motherly hug.

* * *

**Frank POV**

Since there was zombie guts all over our chess set, me, Hazel, and Leo had nothing to do but talk on our guard duty. Instead of wallowing away, talking about how crappy life was, we decided to talk about when life was normal. Before this mess, I mean.

"And then my mom _totally_ burned the fajitas, and we ended up just ordering Chinese that night." Leo laughed, "She never was a very good cook. The woman could rebuild a car engine in record time, but couldn't make ice to save her life." He said with a bright smile that always stuck to his face.

"At least your mom tried, my mom was too obsessed with her psychic act." Hazel grumbled, "She was really old-fashioned, and kind of crazy. But hey, you can't pick your family right?" She said drily. My poor Hazel, her old life wasn't that much better than her new life.

"At least you had me around," I teased. Back in the day, Hazel and I had been next-door neighbors. Whenever her mom had a client, or my parents went out for dinner or something, Hazel and I would spend the day watching TV, playing in the backyard, kid stuff. She smiled up at me, and leaned her head on my shoulder. Leo looked at us wistfully. I didn't blame him though, the guy was lonely. Dating wasn't really easy when most of the female population wanted him for brains that I highly doubted were even there.

"You never told me," Leo said, "How did you guys end up joining the Revivers?" It occurred to me that none of us had ever really talked about our uneasy transitions into the survival group. It was just one of those things from the past that nobody really needed to relive.

"Well, Frank and I were over at his house," Hazel started, "His parents were out to dinner and my mom had one of her clients over at my house." She twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"Our babysitter was watching the news when a report came up about the zombies." I explained, "Right away she had us pack up some necessities in our backpacks and we left. We went over to Hazel's house to get her mom but…" I didn't need to finish that sentence. He understood.

"We didn't fully understand what was going on yet. All we knew was that we needed to leave, and fast." Hazel picked up the story, "The three of us drove as far out of town as we possibly could on the low amount of gas we had. Before long, we were stranded just on the outskirts of the city. Our babysitter had us lie down in the back and rest while she stayed up to keep watch." Hazel blinked her golden eyes and looked back down at the dirty floor.

"We woke up when there was a crash." I continued, "I don't remember fully, but I do remember a lot of blood, and our babysitter screaming. Hazel and I got out of the car, and ran as fast as we could down the road." Leo listened intently. This was the most calm I'd ever seen the kid.

"Frank and I just ran and hid like everyone else for a really long time." Hazel said, "Eventually we met up with Percy and everyone, and he offered us a home. Of course we accepted, and now here we are." A small smile came upon my lovely girlfriend's face. I'll be the first to admit that the people we'd been surviving with for the past few years, made everything a lot easier to swallow.

"That's… wow." Leo said, "You guys are lucky you had each other." He commented. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well what about you, Valdez? What brings you here?" Leo gave us a wry smirk.

"I set myself up for that one, didn't I?" He slapped his knee and swung his hammer around in a circle, "Well, my story isn't quite so long." He joked, but then a grim look settled on his face, "In fact, it's really short. You see, my mom and I heard the story on the news. We figured we'd better leave, and fast. The two of us packed up the car and headed out. For a few weeks there we were on the run like everyone else, just trying to survive. But they always catch up to you eventually, they always do." Leo said darkly, "The brute cornered us in a run down old McDonald's in the middle of nowhere. Mom threw me the bags, and told me to run. I tried to stop her, but she pushed me out. Before I knew it, she lit a match, the place went up in flames, and I was alone." Leo closed his eyes tightly for about ten seconds, before reopening them, "I ran for a long time, then I met up with Grover and Jason on one of their raids. They brought me here, and I haven't looked back since."

That was a lie. We all thought about the old world every now and then. If we didn't, we'd all go insane.

"I'm sorry, Leo." Hazel said quietly, patting his shoulder. He shrugged.

"What's done is done." Leo said, "I'll make it up to her by killing as many flesh-eaters as I can!" He said determinedly, swinging his hammer at the air.

"Easy there, don't put a hole in this place." I said cautiously. Leo shrugged.

"I could fix it just as fast as I make it." That was true.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Enjoy ;) It's just a little itty bit shorter than usual, but I think it's pretty good. **

* * *

**Percy POV**

We all squished ourselves as close to the far wall as we could as the broom cracked again. Annabeth had her shoulder pressed against mine; she was so close I could smell the lemon scent of her hair.

"Percy?" She said, a slight tremor in her words.

"Yeah?" I breathed, wincing as I heard another crack. Annabeth turned her shoulders so that she was facing me. Her eyes were shimmering with fearful tears. In one swift movement she gripped the back of my neck, and pulled my face down to where it was level with hers. For a second, she just stared at me, her eyes not faltering for one second as they looked directly into mine.

And then she kissed me. Right there, in front of everyone. Including the zombies smushing their eyes against the doors.

Her arms wound themselves tight around my neck. Unconsciously, I hugged her to my chest and kissed her back. Every single thought I'd ever had suddenly flew out of my brain. Those doors could have broken open, and I wouldn't even have noticed. Lucky for us, they didn't.

It was Annabeth who broke the kiss (much too early, I might add), but our noses were still touching. She looked up at me through her eyelashes, her breathing as unsteady as mine.

"Just in case I never get the chance again," She whispered. I nodded.

"Just in case," I repeated.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

The broom gave way, and a couple dozen undead cannibals came barreling into the cafeteria. I winced, realizing that I recognized a few of them from my years in Goode Middle School.

We all burst into action. Beckendorf ran through the crowd, slashing as he went along. A couple of zombies got their hands on him, but before long all their limbs were chopped off and their heads were rolling.

"Get up on the tables!" Thalia yelled over the loud moans and groans of the zombies. They could climb, but it would take them a little while to figure that out. Nico jumped up onto the counter they used to serve the food on. Jason and Beckendorf each took tables on separate corners of the room to cover more ground. Thalia hopped from table to table, cutting a path through the crowd.

Annabeth and I stood back-to-back on a circular table in the center of the room. A lot of hands grabbed at our ankles, but they were soon chopped off at the wrist.

"Percy, to your left!" She called. I swung my sword and it impaled itself right into the skull of Nancy Bobofit, the class bully. As cruel and mean to me as she was, I couldn't help but feel guilt and sorrow as I finished her off, and her body fell to the ground with a thump.

The fight turned into something like one of those video games where you shoot at as many meteors as you can before they can damage your ship. Hack away at as many zombies as you can before they bite your foot. And to think there were actual games that looked exactly like this back in the old world…

"Annabeth, to the right!" Within a second her knife had plunged into the eye of a long-dead zombie. She held it steady while I used my blade to sever it's neck.

"Nice shot," I complimented her as I hacked at a nearby zombie hand.

"Thanks," She said breathlessly as she kicked an oncoming flesh-eater. The two of us danced around the table for quite some time, picking away at the crowd of hungry dead people.

Hokey as it sounds, Annabeth and I could practically read each other's minds while we fought. We shifted around the table, covering the weak spots that the other couldn't get to. If I swung my sword at a zombie close to her, she'd automatically move just far enough that the blade didn't hit her. It was almost like a tango of sorts… minus the blood and guts flying everywhere.

It was almost hopeless. There were just too many of them! We'd probably killed over twenty of them all together, but more were coming in through the cafeteria door. They'd probably smelled the fresh blood and heard the shouting, and come running in from their roaming grounds outside thinking _Yum! They deliver now!_

What bothered me the most was how many _more_ familiar faces I was seeing. That was Mr. Brunner, my old Latin teacher… there's evil old Mrs. Dodds (she hadn't changed much). Katie Gardner was snapping at Thalia's heels while her sister, Miranda, went after Jason. Clarisse La Rue was doing an army crawl on the ground with only one leg (not a pretty sight). I couldn't help but wince at the severed red curls of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a girl I'd had a crush on way back in the first grade.

Matt Sloan, Chris Rodriguez, Hayden Landin, Will Solace, Trinity Zimm, Drew Tanaka, Zoë Nightshade… all these people I'd once known, both good and bad, were all glassy eyed, half rotted corpses, trying to get a chunk out of my leg. The fact that I could still remember them as human made this all the only reason I was able to pull through and chop off their heads, was because they were going after Annabeth.

"I'm sorry, Castor." I heard Nico yell as he decapitated an old friend of ours.

Why had they all come back to the school and not the beach or a pizza place or something? If I were them, I would've walked my rotting butt down to Miami. Or at the very least, Long Island.

My adrenaline started pumping faster as I fought. One by one, the zombies were learning to slowly climb their way up the lunch tables. Before long, we'd be overrun.

"The carts!" Annabeth yelled, pointing to the snack carts next to Nico, "Kick them, Nico!" She yelled. Nico stuck his foot out, avoiding the jaws of one of the lunch ladies, and kicked the cart towards Annabeth and me. It hit the side of our table with a _clang._

"Follow me!" She commanded. Annabeth jumped off the table, landing beside the cart with me hot on her heels. I walked backwards and swung my sword in an arc to fight off the corpses as Annabeth pushed the cart in front of her, heading towards the doors. It acted as a sort of moving blockade, pushing zombies out of our way. I could only pray that the others were catching on.

Our cart burst through the doors, through the hallways, and out the front door into the sunlight. There were fewer zombies out here, but still a good amount. That was about to change…

"Suck that, flesh-eaters!" Thalia yelled as she came racing out of the school, riding her cart like a surfboard. She slid down the ramp and jumped off the out-of-control cart as it neared Annabeth and me, "What are you standing around for? Run!" Thalia raced down the steps and into the (somewhat smaller) crowd of zombies out on the grounds.

The courtyard outside of the school was ringed with a high, metal fence all around the school. I tugged Annabeth's arm towards the side of the building where the gate was.

"Hurry!" I yelled as we ran. The zombies were fast, but their reflexes were pretty bad and it would take them a second to realize that they should chase us.

We rounded the corner to find Thalia pulling at the padlocked gate, shouting all sorts of obscenities.

"The damn thing's locked from the outside!" She yelled, "They must've tried to lock all the zombies in here!" She told us. Nico, Jason, and Beckendorf skidded to a stop beside us.

"They're right behind us!" Jason shouted, "Open the gate!"

"Don't you think if I _could_ I _would?!"_ Thalia yelled, "We're gonna have to climb!" Without further adieu she began to scale the six-foot iron.

"One at a time! It's too flimsy to support all of us!" I called up.

"Watch the sharp stuff on the top!" Nico yelled up to her.

"Gee, thanks!" She shouted, rolling her eyes. The zombies from the grounds smelled us out through the stench of death, and the ones from inside were gaining on us…

"Nico, you next, go!" I yelled, shoving him up, "Annabeth, you go after him."

"I'll stay and fight, Jason go!" I didn't dare argue. She had a murderous look in her eyes, and I didn't want to be on the wrong end of her knife. Me, her, and Beckendorf held our weapons ahead of us towards the oncoming crowd while Jason scaled the fence.

It was a little bit easier to fight out in the open where we had more space. But the crowd kept growing and growing and growing…

"Annabeth, go!" I shouted. This time, she didn't hesitate; she gave me one desperate look before ascending up the fence with me and Beckendorf watching her back.

All of a sudden, Beckendorf stopped fighting. His eyes widened in shock, and his jaw fell open.

"What are you _doing?"_ I shouted at him. It was like he didn't hear me. He was too busy staring into the middle of the crowd of about two-dozen zombies.

Beckendorf's eyes were locked on a single zombie in particular. Her jaw was slacked, her eyes were a washed out blue, and the few clumps of greasy hair that was left on her scalp were black and stringy. Her skin had faded to a dull grey tone underneath the ragged tank top and jeans she wore. Blood and God knows what else clung to her chin and neck from earlier meals.

"Oh my god..." Annabeth said softly from the other side of the fence, "Silena." Silena?

"Beckendorf come on, start climbing!" I shouted over the groaning and stomping. He just kept staring.

"Pull him Percy!" Annabeth yelled hysterically, banging on the fence. But I couldn't, I was too focused on trying not to get bitten.

The zombie-girl, Silena, started shuffling towards Beckendorf. It was all I could do to keep the other zombies from biting at him. He wasn't helping by walking towards her!

"Beckendorf, stop!" For the first time ever, I saw water falling from Beckendorf's eyes.

"I'm sorry," He choked out to the zombie girl, "I'm so sorry."

"Snap out of it, man! She'll kill you!" But he just wouldn't listen!

"DO SOMETHING, PERCY!" Annabeth shouted, shaking the gate. She started hacking at the lock with her dagger.

"I can't!" I yelled as I used kicked at one zombie while stabbing another. Beckendorf shuffled even closer, at the same pace as Silena was. She cocked her head at him, a bit of flesh oozing from the corner of her mouth.

"Oh Silena…" Beckendorf whispered brokenheartedly.

"Beckendorf, no! Stop it!" I yelled in a dead attempt to stop him. Annabeth's blade continued to clang against the lock as she too tried to reach him.

But my shout didn't work.

Instead of everything slowing down, the way it did in the movies, it all moved faster. My mind worked quicker and quicker, analyzing everything that happened within a split second.

Silena growled and lunged towards Beckendorf. Before I could even open my mouth to shout, her teeth sunk into the flesh of his shoulder.

"Beckendorf!"

"NO!"

"Oh my god!" The shouts from the other side of the fence traveled easily over the moaning of the attacking zombies. But the loudest scream came from Beckendorf himself. A clang sounded through the air as Annabeth broke the lock, but held the gate shut tight.

"Percy, come on!" Annabeth yelled, "It's too late!"

"I can't leave him here!" I yelled to her. She groaned, and opened the gate, barking orders to Jason and Nico as she ran back into the courtyard.

"I'm sorry, Silena!" She yelled as her blade stuck itself into the neck of the zombie girl feasting on Beckendorf. Annabeth turned to me, a fire in her eyes, "Drag him out of here NOW!" She shouted.

What she did next surprised me: she grabbed Silena's head and her arm and dragged the dead zombie corpse towards the gate, occasionally stopping to kick at an attacker. I didn't get the chance to ask her why, I was busy trying to keep my grip on a bloody, almost dead Beckendorf. The rest of our Troop stood dutifully by the gate, waiting for us to get close enough.

As we got within about five feet, Nico swung open the gate, allowing us to get out of the courtyard. A few zombies straggled after us, but Thalia and Jason took them out quickly. Nico shut the gate before too many could get through. He grabbed a random piece of debris from the ground and stuck it through the slits of the metal gate to re-lock the door. Multiple ghostly hands shot through the holes, but we were far enough out of the way that they couldn't reach us.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" Thalia cried as she knelt by Beckendorf's head. He moaned, and stared up at us all in a daze.

"S-Silena… all my fault…" He managed to choke out, "Sacrificed herself… saved me…" He said coarsely. Annabeth clutched his bloody hand, and Nico covered the torn flesh of his shoulder with his jacket.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Beckendorf turned his gaze to her.

"Thank you for saving her," He said to her. The corners of his lips turned up just a little, "Don't let him go, understand?" I exchanged confused glances with the others, but Annabeth simply nodded.

"Promise." I raised an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head, and mouthed that she'd explain later. Beckendorf's eyes flicked to me.

"Thanks, Perce." He said, "For saving me." I smiled tightly and pat his shoulder.

"You call this saving?" I asked, with the lightest of chuckles. He nodded.

"Just don't forget to finish the job," He whispered with a wink. I gulped, but nodded. Better to finish, then to force him to live as one of them.

Beckendorf's eyes turned to the sky one last time, before closing.

* * *

Not one of our eyes was dry as we looked down at the dead body of our friend. Annabeth's tears were probably the worst of us all. She didn't sob, she didn't wail, she just cried silent tears that never stopped. At some point she turned and hugged my neck, crying into my shoulder. I rocked us back and forth for a little while, trying to slow my own tears as well.

After god knows how long, Nico piped up.

"We need t-to do it, before he turns." He stuttered. My heart felt icy, and dropped down into my stomach.

"I don't know if I can…" I muttered hoarsely. Annabeth sniffed, and looked up.

"I'll do it." She volunteered and wiped her eyes. Her fingers delicately pulled out her dagger from her belt, "Look away," She told us. I was happy to oblige.

_Swipe. Thump._

"It's done." Annabeth said grimly as she wiped her hands off on her pants, "He's not coming back." I took a deep breath, and reached to squeeze her hand encouragingly.

"We need to bury him." I said. Everyone nodded. Of course we did.

"And Silena too," Annabeth added in. Whoever this girl was, she'd obviously meant a lot to Beckendorf at one point. I'd ask Annabeth later.

Within the next hour or so we had two graves filled side by side in a grassy area down the block. The five of us remaining stood around the freshly dug up Earth, reminiscing.

"He was the strongest of us all,"

"He was brave,"

"He was kind,"

"He was a good friend," Annabeth said that one.

By the time we'd finished our memorial service, the sky was getting dark. The whole place would be pitch black within a half hour or so.

"There's no way we'll be able to get back home." I said, squinting at the sun, "We should make camp somewhere for the night." Jason nodded.

"We passed that Laundromat a few blocks dow…"

"No Laundromats." Thalia and Annabeth said in sync. Oh yeah, that's where their friend had gotten turned. I put my hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"There was a bookstore?" I suggested. She perked up at that and I smiled in triumph.

"Bookstore it is." Nico said, brushing his hands together, "Let's get moving before the sun sets too much."

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

Beckendorf. _Beckendorf._ How had this happened? It was all we could do not to think about it was we made our way to the bookstore.

I'll admit, burning books would not have been my first choice. But these books were already molded and rotted away to a point where burning them was a kindness.

The bookstore we'd taken residence in had a little coffee shop in the back, where we made a bonfire of the books beyond repair. The five of us huddled around the warmth, trying not to think of our lost friend.

I curled up into Percy's side with my head on his shoulder. He had an arm wound around me, twisting a piece of my hair between his fingers.

"So…" Thalia drawled as she poked at the fire with a big stick she'd found outside, "Are you two together now?" She asked us. Huh, I guess we'd never exactly said it out loud… Percy looked down at me with a small smile on his face.

"I think so… but if you say no this will be really awkward…" He joked. I lightly smacked his stomach but internally I was thanking him for making us smile.

"Yes, we are." I said definitely.

"And me and Perce already had the boyfriend talk, so we're good!" Jason announced proudly. Percy turned a deep shade of red and looked down into the fire. We were all quiet for a couple minutes, just simmering in our own thoughts. Of course it was Percy who broke the silence.

"Hey Annabeth?"

"Hm?" I looked up at him.

"What was the drawing Daisy gave you before we left?" He asked curiously. My heart warmed at the thought of the little girl. I reached into my pocket and felt for the crumpled pink construction paper that she'd given me as a goodbye present. I unfolded it and handed it to him.

On the light pink paper was a drawing in blue marker. It was two stick figures with hearts floating between them, a boy and a girl. They were holding hands and smiling at each other. She'd labeled them too.

"Pursy and Anubeth." He read with a smirk.

"Kids are good judges of character," Thalia pointed out, "See? Everyone knew about that before you did." I rolled my eyes and tossed an old coffee cup at her.

"Two way street, Thals, two way street." I said, sending a glance towards Nico. A light pink flush went into her pale cheeks, and she quickly shut up.

* * *

Nico decided to crash on top of the coffee counter. Jason gave me and Percy a very pointed look before he curled up underneath one of the tables. Thalia found a nice place in front of one of the old bookshelves. Percy decided to take the first watch. He promised he'd wake me up for mine in a couple of hours, but I didn't really believe him.

"Sleep, Annabeth." He smirked, lightly running his fingers through my hair as I rested my head in his lap.

"Don't tell me what to do," I mumbled through a sleepy haze. Crap, I was tired… He chuckled.

"I'll wake you up, promise." He whispered.

"No you won't," I muttered as I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling of his fingers brushing through my hair.

"Yeah, you're right." He admitted, but I was already asleep.

* * *

It wasn't Percy that woke me up; it was the sunlight streaming in through the dirt-caked windows. A light snore rumbled through my ears and I craned my neck to see Percy lying on his side next to me, drooling away. It was almost gross, but I'd seen worse.

"I'm watching you," Someone said lowly. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes to find Jason sitting up in one of the tables holding a book.

"Haha, Jason." I said sarcastically, "How long have you been up?"

"Few hours," He shrugged, "Percy was falling asleep so I took over." Jason's hands were sort of shuffling. They covered the cover of the book he was reading.

"What's that?" I yawned and pointed to the book. He shrugged again and flipped the book facedown.

"Nothing…" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's the book, Jason?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just a book I found on the floor and flipped through…" He mumbled, but his place in the book suggested that he'd read about halfway through already.

"The title…?" I prompted.

"You wouldn't know it…" Jason evaded. I un-cracked my back and stood up with my hand outstretched.

"Give me the book, Jason." I said, letting a small smile come on my face.

"I don't think I will." He said, shaking his head.

"Well, sucks for you." Jason blinked as I lashed my hand out, slapping his wrist, swiping the book, and holding a hand out to keep him from taking it back.

"Seriously Jason? _Twilight_?" I didn't even both trying to hide my laugh, I let it out loud.

"Wha?!" Percy yelped and sat straight as a rod. All the hair on the right side of his head was pressed down while the left side stuck straight out like Sonic the Hedgehog, "What's going on?" He said groggily. Thalia stretched her arms and yawned as Nico peeked his head out from behind the coffee maker.

"Look what Jason's reading!" I sing-songed and dangled the book from my fingertips.

"I wasn't reading it, I was burning it for warmth!" The beet-red Jason argued.

"The matches are in my pocket." Thalia argued. Jason opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of sea.

"But, well, I… give it!" He finally said. I laughed and flicked it towards him.

"What team are you on, Jason? Edward or Jacob?" Nico laughed.

"Edward," Jason sniffed proudly. We all groaned in disapproval.

I didn't even notice that it wasn't four of us that groaned. It was five.

* * *

We'd been so focused on making fun of Jason that nobody noticed the manager come out of her office. That is, until she made a grab for my boyfriend.

"Percy!" Thalia screamed. He turned just in time to have two-inch nails rake his neck. The free flowing blood made the zombie go into a frenzy of sorts. She groaned and grabbed his arm, her teeth going towards his flesh…

I'd lost Luke this exact same way. We'd just lost Beckendorf, and I wasn't ready to lose Percy too.

I stabbed the small of her back. It wouldn't kill her, but it was enough to distract her. She snapped her head back to look at me with rage. She thrust out her palm and shoved Percy back. There was a _clonk_ sound as his head hit the corner of one of the tables. He sprawled on the ground and a splash of red oozed from underneath his hair.

"Percy!" I shouted. A fire started to burn in the pit of my stomach, and my palms started sweating.

That bitch-pardon my French- was gonna pay! I surged forward with the force of a hurricane. I raised my dagger above my head before plunging it down into the hollow at her collarbone, severing her spine. That made it much easier to chop the rest of her head clean off.

With her out of the way, I dropped my bloody knife and ran to Percy's side where everyone else had already gathered.

"P-Percy?" I stammered, wrapping my fingers around his wrist. I pressed my thumb down, praying that I'd feel a pulse.

"He's alive," Nico said. It felt as though the weight of the sky had just been lifted off of my shoulders, "Just knocked out." I let out all the pressure in my chest, and bent my head to lay my forehead on Percy's shoulder.

"Did she get him?" I asked. Jason shook his head.

"Nope, he's still human."

* * *

Thalia went exploring in the back store room and found a big wheeled cart.

"They probably used this to restock the shelves," She said as she wheeled it towards us, "We can transport Percy and all the supplies back on it." It would save us a lot of heavy lifting, that's for sure.

All together, we lifted Percy up and set him gently on the cart. His feet hung off the end, but oh well. It was better than nothing.

Even with the cart, the walk back home was slow goings. Everyone was silent, still mourning the loss of Beckendorf. Nico and Thalia didn't argue once the whole two hours. I'm still not sure if that was a miracle or a curse.

By the time we arrived back at the base it was about noon. Jason rapped three times on the wooden door to let whoever was on guard know that it was us. It wasn't even three seconds before the door swung open and Piper jumped into Jason's arms.

"You're back!" She shouted happily.

"Shh," He shushed her, but hugged her back tightly, "We don't want to attract any flesh-eaters." She nodded against his neck as the rest of us filed inside. It was Piper and Frank on duty apparently.

"What happened to Percy?" He asked in alarm, staring at the limp boy on the cart.

"He's ok, just hit his head." I said, standing by him protectively. Frank pursed his lips curiously at my stance, but didn't say anything.

"Um guys?" Piper asked as she re-locked the door, "Where's Beckendorf?" None of us answered. We simply looked down at our feet.

"Oh, you're kidding…" Frank whispered, "That can't be."

"We couldn't save him," Thalia said, squeezing her eyes tight. Piper's bottom lip trembled, and she hid her face in Jason's shoulder.

"I'll go tell Grover and Juniper we're back," Nico coughed, and took the stairs two at a time. Frank fell into an old wooden chair, eyes staring into space.

"He couldn't have… he must have survived…" He muttered.

"No, we're sure that he…. That he's gone." Thalia said. Everyone was silent again.

"I'm gonna take Percy upstairs." I said softly after a few minutes.

"I'll help you," Thalia volunteered. The two of us struggled to bring the cart of Seaweed Brain up the stairs, but we managed.

Once we were on flat ground, Thalia left me to go to Juniper's room where we could hear quiet sobs. I wheeled Percy down the hall and into his room. After a few minutes of awkward pulling, lifting, and shoving, I had Percy lying peacefully under the covers. I sat down next to him and wrapped up his head injury with gentle fingers.

For the rest of that night I sat by his side, holding his hand, waiting for him to wake up again. Eventually, I just fell asleep.


	7. Chapter Seven

**A/N Oh my gods I am sooooo sorry for the long wait! I won't bore you with reasons why, I've just been busy. _Anyways, this is only the first half of this chapter. I will post the next half TOMORROW night! _I just didn't want to keep you waiting any longer! Again, soooo sorry!**

**Thanks for reviewing everyone! Just a reminder, I do NOT write lemons so if that's what you're here for, keep on looking. I read all the reviews, thank you so much for writing them everyone! Quick reply to one from a guest that I can't PM: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I've never seen Resident Evil, and I'm surprised you're pretty close with what I've got planned for the plot ;)**

* * *

**Percy POV**

Ugh, I think someone hit my head with a hammer. I lifted my hand to rub my eyes, but something stopped me. I groaned and opened my eyes. A soft hand gripped my forearm, and a head of golden blonde hair was resting on the side of my bed.

Ha! And she made fun of me for drooling, Annabeth snores like an animal! I nudged her shoulder with my other hand. She mumbled and continued on with her snoring.

"Psst, Annabeth!" I whispered. She grumbled and turned her head the other way, "Annabeth, wake up!" I hissed.

"Go away, Leo. I'm not helping you rig a trapdoor for Nico." She moaned and buried her eyes in the sheets.

"It's not Leo," I said.

"Frank I don't have fruit snacks."

"Geez Annabeth, just wake up!" I finally said loudly. Her eyes snapped open and she slipped off her chair onto the ratty carpet. I peeked over the edge of the bed with a smirk.

"Well aren't you graceful?" I teased her. She rolled her eyes and sat up.

"You're feeling better," She said drily as she stood and brushed off her jeans.

"Better being a loose term," I muttered, "But I'm awake, if that's what you mean." Annabeth took her seat at my side again and brushed her fingers along the back of my head and the side of my neck. I winced as I felt a stinging sensation.

"The stitches seem to be staying in well." She mumbled, "No swelling, no sign of infection… the cut is closing up nicely."

"Will I make it, Doc?" I gasped dramatically. She smirked and pressed her finger to my wrist.

"It's too soon to tell, we'll see how you are in the morning." Annabeth joked. I grinned at her. Her smile softened and she brushed a couple of strands of hair out of my eyes.

"You scared me for a second there," She murmured. I reached up to squeeze her hand.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth twisted her wrist to intertwine our fingers.

"So, my memory is a little fuzzy. I don't really remember what happened yesterday." Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" I nodded and tried to hide my smile.

"Yeah, especially that one thing right before the zombies charged into the cafeteria…" Her smile alone was enough to make my heart race.

"Is that so?" She asked with a slightly flirtatious glint in her eyes. Annabeth leaned on her elbows and rested her chin in her palms, her face half a foot from mine.

"Would you care to help refresh my memory?" She chuckled.

"It's the least I can do, considering the circumstances." She joked. I rolled my eyes.

"I say this with all the love in my heart, but will you shut up and kiss me already?!" Finally! Annabeth bent her head down and pressed her lips to mine. Just like that first kiss, volts ran right up my spine. God I'd run through an entire crowd of zombies if Annabeth were waiting to kiss me. I practically did.

"Ringing any bells?" She murmured against my lips.

"Not yet…" I muttered. Annabeth smirked and pulled away anyways.

"We don't want to overload your Seaweed Brain too fast, now do we?" She teased. I sighed and twirled one of curls through my fingers.

"What exactly happened, anyways?" Annabeth looked down at our hands and clasped both my hands in hers.

"The manager of the bookstore attacked and you got thrown into a table. You cut your head pretty badly." Annabeth explained, "We wheeled you back here on a cart and you've been out for about two days now." My eyes widened.

"_Two days!?"_ I exclaimed. I struggled to sit up and stand, but Annabeth pushed me back down.

"It's ok. The rest of us can handle everything without you." She smirked. I relaxed my shoulders.

"That's not funny." I pouted. She laughed like a bell and punched my arm.

"You know we all love you, Percy. But we are fairly decent butt-kickers."

"But I'm the best," I insisted, even though I knew that we were probably all pretty equal skill-wise. Annabeth rolled her eyes and kissed my cheek.

"Yes, you're the best. All hail King Percy." She sighed sarcastically, "Now get some rest."

"I don't want to rest, I want to get up and move around." I whined, "Two days in bed is not fun."

"Stay." Annabeth said firmly, "You'll never heal if you reopen those stitches." Her gaze was firm to a point where I was scared.

"Ok, ok. One more day, but then I'm getting up." Annabeth groaned.

"Can you agree not to train for another week?" She bartered. Another week? I wouldn't be able to cut off the finger of a disembodied hand after being out of it for _that _long!

Like I've said before, time moves faster in this world.

"Five days?" Annabeth's lips pursed into a thin line. Ok, this was the problem with a stubborn nurse/girlfriend.

"Ten days," She argued.

"A week works!" Annabeth smirked and crossed her arms smugly. I rolled my eyes, "Don't be so smug. Zombies can smell smug." She laughed again.

"Leo can put up a smoke screen that smells like chicken nuggets then." Oh sigh, I miss chicken nuggets. We came across a bag of microwaveable ones about a year ago. Best. Day. Of. My. Life. Annabeth smiled down at me and rubbed my shoulder.

"Ok, now go to sleep Seaweed Brain. We can't go without our leader for too long, you know." She teased me.

"I'm not the leader here," I muttered. She shrugged.

"You and I both know that isn't true, everyone here relies on you." She said.

"I don't want to be a leader. In all those post-apocalyptic movies there's always that one guy that goes nuts and takes over. I don't want to be him." Annabeth chuckled and bent down to kiss me.

"That's very admirable of you." She complimented me, "Now sleep."

"Yes ma'am." I mumbled and closed my eyes. Annabeth clasped my hand and showed no signs of leaving me. That was something I was really thankful for.

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"Annabeth, you have to get working on that cure." Thalia repeated for the fifth time… that minute. The two of us sat in Percy's room while he slept away. I promised him that the next time he woke up he could start walking around again, and I wanted to be here when he attempted to stand again.

"Not until Percy can fend for himself again." I said firmly. Thalia huffed.

"Percy's a big boy now, I'm sure he can stand on his own." She drawled, letting her head flop over the edge of his bed where she currently lay.

"I'm sure he can, but I'm also sure he'll want to go and train or do something stupid." I said.

"He did stupid things before"

"And look where he is now." Thalia hmphed.

"Ok, you win." Before I could do my victory dance, Percy grumbled in his sleep and his eyes started to flutter open.

"Lullaby… lullaby…" Thalia joked. Percy's hand flashed out and slapped her wrist.

"Not funny," He groaned and rubbed his eyes, "What time is it?" I looked out the window.

"Afternoon I think," I answered, "You have time to sleep more before dinner." Percy just stared at me with an amused smirk.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He mocked.

"I don't think you should push it…" Percy rolled his eyes and pushed himself up on his elbows.

"Lighten up, I'm fi-ow!" He clutched at his ribcage and took a deep breath.

"I hate to say I told you so, but I did." I gloated. Percy grit his teeth and grunted.

"Little less gloating, a little more help please." He said coarsely. I gently removed his arm from around his torso and moved his back so that he was lying down again.

"You probably broke a rib or something when you hit the table," Thalia said, "I thought I heard a crunch." Percy winced, and I glared at her. She held up her hands and stood up, "Ok, ok, I can take a hint. See you guys later." She backed out of the room, hands still up in surrender.

"You gotta love Thalia," I commented as I re-wrapped Percy's head bandage.

"She definitely adds to the day," Percy said drily. I nodded and moved to cover him with the blanket again but he shook his head, "Oh no you don't, I'm not laying around for the rest of the day. We already settled this!" Percy argued. I groaned and dropped the blanket.

"Fine, fine, fine. Give me your hand." I commanded. After grunting, groaning, and wincing Percy was seated semi-comfortably on the edge of the bed next to me.

"You ready for this?" I asked again. Percy took another deep breath with his eyes closed. A bead of sweat trickled down the nape of his neck and his shoulders were trembling in pain.

"Yeah," He muttered, "Let's get this over with." I kissed his cheek and squeezed his shoulder.

"Come on, you can do it." I said encouragingly. Percy swallowed loud and nodded. I grasped his elbow firmly and gently lifted as he pushed himself up from the mattress. His knees were shaking and his balance was shaky. The second he was upright he tipped towards me.

"Easy there," I murmured and put his arm over my shoulders. Poor Percy's face was all white. Broken ribs, stitches on his head and neck, I didn't blame him.

"I'm good," He choked out. The two of us hobbled out of his room and all the way into his kitchen before he had to sit down for a second.

"You're doing well, Percy." I said.

"I feel weak." He whined, "What if we get invaded?" I ruffled his hair.

"We lock you in a closet, kick some serious ass, and then come back for you later." Percy glared at me.

"You aren't funny." He said with irritation.

"Percy, we're fine. You'll be healed in a couple of weeks and all will be right with the world… sort of." He sighed and put a hand on his face to cover his eyes.

"I'm ready to go again."

* * *

"Hey look! He lives!" Leo cheered as Percy and I hobbled into Juniper and Grover's apartment.

"Barely," Nico scoffed. Hazel reached out and swatted his arm before I could get there. Shame. Percy and I settled onto the couch while Juniper hustled to get him some water.

"How you feeling, man?" Grover asked, bouncing Daisy on his knee.

"Like I got run over." I winced and rubbed his shoulder.

"You can't feel that bad. Annabeth's hasn't left your side for the past few days." Nico said, "Poor baby, woke up to a pretty blonde girl rewrapping your hollow head." Thalia punched his arm to get him to shut up.

"The man was thrown into a table by a zombie, have a little compassion will you?" Frank said with disapproval. Hazel nodded in agreement. That wasn't much of a surprise, really. Hazel and Frank agreed on everything.

"No, it's fine." Percy said. The strain on his voice was so minimal that only I could tell it was even there.

"See? He's just fine. Annabeth we need to get started." Thalia wrung her hands anxiously, "The sooner we finish all this, the better." I opened my mouth to object, but Percy stopped me.

"You haven't started it yet?" Percy asked, "Annabeth…" He scolded.

"I'm so sorry I wanted to make sure you didn't do something stupid when you woke up." I said flatly. Percy mocked my straight face.

"Get to work or I'll go bungee jumping." I huffed and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"Keep an eye on him," I said to the others. Thalia saluted, "If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room, saving the world."

* * *

**Percy POV**

"What cha doin?" I drawled as I limped into Annabeth's room. For the past four days she'd shut herself up in there, only opening the door to take the meals Juniper brought her. Thalia convinced me to leave her alone and let her work. Nico agreed, saying that Annabeth was probably really stressed and would get mad, but we all knew he was just agreeing because Thalia said it.

Those two were as oblivious as Annabeth and I had been.

Anyways, today I decided I'd pay her a visit to let her relax her mind just a little bit.

But she ignored me.

"Aaaannabeth?" I sung, hobbling towards her bent over figure. The tangled blonde curls were splayed out over the table she had spread out on. All sorts of different bowls and vials of strange colored liquids were laid out before her.

"If I mix this with this… no no, too reactive… but this and this… side effects…" Annabeth continued muttering to herself as I pulled up a rickety old dining chair beside her.

"Hello? Annabeth?" I snapped my fingers in front of her nose. She jumped about three feet up into the air.

"Percy!" She squeaked, "You scared me!"

"Apparently," I said smugly. Annabeth rolled her eyes and elbowed my ribs.

"What do you need, Seaweed Brain?" She asked with a small laugh.

"What? I can't come down and visit my _girlfriend?"_ Her smile widened when I said the word girlfriend.

"I suppose…" Annabeth said with amusement, "But while you're here, can you hold this?" She handed me a vial of purple-ish liquid, "And don't drop it!"

"What is it?" I lifted the glass to take a whiff of the chemical. Yuck! It smelled like garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

"Don't smell it, for god's sake!" Annabeth gasped, "It's toxic!" I winced and handed it back to her.

"Good to know," She rolled her eyes.

"Your head is truly filled with kelp."

"And proud of it!" Annabeth smirked, and continued working. I leaned over and rested my chin on her shoulder to watch as she took notes. I'll admit, I felt a little smug when I kissed her shoulder and her pen slipped.

"You're distracting," She murmured, turning her head just a little towards me.

"Do you care?" I countered, taking the moment to kiss her cheek. A light pink lit up the tops of her ears.

"Not as much as I should, considering the fact that I'm dealing with some fairly dangerous chemicals." She shook the vial of gross purple stuff for emphasis, "Why a middle school science classroom had some of this stuff…" She trailed off. I shrugged.

"It was so long ago." I muttered, "I don't even remember my homeroom teacher's name anymore." Annabeth sighed, and set down the toxic purple crap and her pen.

"These fumes are getting to my head," She complained, rubbing her temples. I reached up and grasped one of her hands.

"Want to go for a walk?"

* * *

"You're not well enough yet, Percy."

"It's too stressful for you, Percy."

"I want you to heal, Percy." Blah, blah, blah.

After a lot of arguing, persuading, and kissing, I finally got Annabeth to go with me to the training room.

"I still don't think this is…"

"Shh!" I put a hand over her mouth to silence her. We were right outside the door to the training room when I heard a giggle.

"Quit it, Nico!" Annabeth's eyes widened.

"That's not Thalia, is it?" She whispered. The two of us cracked the door open just a little bit so that we could sneak a peek.

Thalia and Nico were wrestling on the mat. At the moment, Nico was winning, which was a rare moment.

"Take that, Grace!" He laughed, standing tall and proud above her. She huffed and sat up on her elbows.

"You cheated, I could have beaten you!" She shouted.

"She's lying." Annabeth murmured. I nodded, Thalia's face was red from embarrassment.

"I did not!" Nico protested. Yep, he was lying too.

"You did and you know it." Thalia got to her feet and stood an inch from Nico's nose. Annabeth's glare was bone-chillingly scary, but Thalia was a close second with her punk hair and gothic clothing. She reminded me a little bit of a pit bull when she was mad. Nico flinched and stepped back.

"Round three?" He squeaked.

"You bet your sorry butt round three!" Thalia said it meanly, but she was grinning. They started circling, and it wasn't long before Nico charged her. It was hard to look away as the two of them fought it out. When Nico lunged, Thalia rolled away. When she rolled away, Nico would jump and block her. It was like the two of them had been practicing this for days.

"Percy, are you seeing this?" Annabeth hissed. I nodded.

"Chemistry," I whispered, smirking. Annabeth covered her mouth to hold in a laugh as Nico dive rolled into Thalia.

"We could always use a little more love around here…" Annabeth said slyly.

"My gorgeous girlfriend, you're absolutely right."

* * *

**And I repeat, the second half will be posted TOMORROW NIGHT! Promise!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N I'm so sorry! We had a family emergency last night and I didn't get enough time to finish yesterday. This one isn't as good because it's two in the morning and I'm falling asleep, but I'll make up for it with the next chapter! Goode To Be Back should be updated within the next few days!**

* * *

**Nico POV**

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. This can't be happening…

"Why does it have to be me and Death Breath? Why don't Frank and Hazel go?" Ouch, feeling the love there, Thalia.

"Frank and Hazel will get distracted," Leo said with a mischievous grin, "But you and Nico won't… right?" He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.

"Of course not." Thalia answered briskly.

"So it's settled then," Annabeth clapped her hands from her spot next to Percy, "The two of you will go."

"But we raided that gas station years ago!" I argued. For some unknown reason, Annabeth wanted us to go to the gas station at the end of the street to "re-raid" the place.

"Well then you're raiding it again," Percy crossed his arms around Annabeth. He had one eyebrow raised in one of those _do it or you're fired _kind of looks, but the corner of his mouth was turned up.

"I'm sensing an ulterior motive." Thalia said thoughtfully. Leo jumped off of the counter and put a hand on each of our shoulders. All those hours of lifting hammers and twisting wrenches had paid off. Leo was able to push us towards the hallway.

"Get a move on, the sun will be down in a few hours!" He snickered and shoved us down the stairs. Jason was on guard. He gave us a smirk, a salute, and shooed us out. Thalia arched an eyebrow and turned to look at me with her pretty blue eyes.

"You noticed that too, right?" I nodded. Why was my tongue so dry?

"Hard not to." I croaked. Sweating… lots of sweating… Thalia huffed and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"Well, I guess we're going on a raid." She sighed and hopped down the steps, sidestepping some guts. As she walked away, I stared at her. In the sunlight her hair glistened like onyx, and she had that stance that said _I could kick your butt_.

"You coming, di Angelo?" She called over her shoulder. I coughed to try and cover the awkwardness of me staring at her.

"Course, lead the way."

**Leo POV**

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" I muttered and slapped the side of the generator. It was one of the most useful things I'd fixed in this place, but it was also one of the most moody. I never told Percy about all her… er… issues. He'd tell me to stop, it's too dangerous to keep working on it, you'll blow up the building, blah blah blah.

But now I'm thinking maybe I should have listened. I groaned, wiped the oil onto my pants, and trudged upstairs to tell Perce. Man, I hoped he wasn't having a gross romantic moment with Annabeth. Awkward…

There was talking coming from Juniper's place. Oh yeah, it was lunch time. That meant we were all together. Witnesses, excellent.

I entered her suite as quietly as I could. That means I sounded like a bull standing on corn chips. Juniper smiled kindly and offered me a plate.

"It's about time, Leo. Where were you?" Jason asked, throwing a piece of cheese towards Piper.

"Duwnodaginretor." I mumbled under my breath.

"Could you repeat that?" Percy asked, cupping his ear. I chewed my lower lip.

"I was down at the generator." I admitted guiltily.

"Why?" Annabeth asked with her eyebrows pushed together in concern. I rubbed my finger around the rim of my plate.

"It's sort of on the fritz… again."

"Again?" Percy asked, the alarm sounding in his voice. I gulped. Oh boy…

"Well yeah… again. But it's ok, I can fix it!" I said hurriedly, "We just won't have water, heat, or electricity for a week or two." Percy pursed his lips. Haha, Percy, pursed. They sound similar… wow I'm ADHD.

"Leo, I really don't think you should be risking it. Who knows what could happen?" He said.

"Most of the food we find isn't safe enough to eat unless it's cooked, and it's more dangerous to light a fire every night. Plus, winter's coming soon. We're gonna need that heater." Hazel and Frank came in before Percy could reply.

"Jason, Piper, you're shift." Hazel said casually and took a bite of her bread. Piper chewed her lip and nervously.

"Alright, but don't do anything I wouldn't do." She said and hefted her knife up. Whoa, shiny… ok, ok, focus…

When they had headed down, and Frank and Hazel were filled in, Percy returned to his ranting.

"Of course it will be dangerous to you, but it'll also be dangerous to everyone else!"

"Not to mention the fact that, based on what you've said, it'll only break again in which case this process will repeat itself." Annabeth added in.

"That… was a fancy sentence." I said stupidly, "But if I don't fix it, we'll all die at some point anyways. I'm fixing it, case closed." Percy grumbled, but didn't object.

"No worries, Perce. Leo's good with a screwdriver." Grover said, patting my shoulder.

**Thalia POV**

"I don't see anything worthwhile in here." I said, dropping the empty gum wrapper on the counter, "You go anything over there Death Breath?" Nico popped his head out from around a corner.

"I found some lint, and what looks like a half a mouse." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Huh, he looked kind of cute when he did that.

Wait… what?

Ok, I can admit it. Nico was kind of handsome. I mean, the dark hair and dark eyes, and the black clothes looked good on him. Plus he was into all this sick punk stuff. His sword: pure black. It was epic.

"So I guess we can head back now?" Nico said, swinging his sword in a circle. Why was he sort of… pink in the face?

"Yeah, there's no point in staying." I said, kicking aside an old piece of cardboard. Nico rubbed the back of his neck and gulped.

"So listen… um… " His voice cracked, and I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.

"You ok there, Nico?" Ok, the pink went from a nice rosy color, to full blown cherry red.

"Peachy," He muttered, "But anyways. You see I was sort of thinking the other day… well, Jason and Piper have been together for a while now. Juniper and Grover are happy, Hazel and Frank, and now Percy and Annabeth too. It's just us and Leo." Was he getting at what I thought he was getting at?

"Uh-huh…" I crossed my arms around an arrow and tried not to smirk at him.

"And they all seem so happy and calm with each other…" Nico drawled. I rolled my eyes.

"Spit it out," I chuckled. Nico sucked in a deep breath.

"Look, here's the thing Thals…" And then he went on a rant. I couldn't exactly make out what he was saying for certain because he was stuttering so bad.

After about two and a half minutes of nonstop blabbing, I finally just interrupted.

"Cut to it, di Angelo!" I burst.

"Will you please just be my girlfriend?" He practically shouted. I raised my eyebrows.

"Gee, took you long enough didn't it?" Without further adieu, I reached forward, grabbed his collar, and pressed my lips to his.

Moved too fast, you say? One minute it's a crush the next it's a relationship? This world is different. There isn't that awkward flirting phase anymore where the girl gets her friends to figure out if the boy likes her or not, or when the boy dumps a soda on the girls head just to see what happens. Things are fast, to the point, and time is of the essence.

**Annabeth POV**

_Oh come on… just five more minutes Leo…_ and then the lights went out. Just wonderful. I threw my head back and groaned.

"I was sort of in the middle of mixing chemicals, saving the world, curing the human race!" I shouted. He didn't hear me of course, Leo was down in the basement.

The sun hadn't set completely, so I was still able to see in front of me well enough to walk, but too dark for me to tell the chemicals apart. Now I would never admit this, but being in the darkness sent chills up and down my spine. It could be because the undead preferred to stay in darker places where their skin couldn't dry out from the sun. I gulped and stepped out of my room and headed towards Percy's room. He had night shift tonight, so he was probably napping. But sitting with a sleeping Percy was better than being in my room alone.

As suspected, his room was empty and his bedroom door was shut. There was shuffling sounds coming from in there. I didn't bother knocking, I just pushed open the door.

"What are you doing in he-" My voice sort of faltered when I opened the door. Percy had pushed his bed and other furnishings to the side. An old blue blanket had been laid out on the floor, in the middle of a sea of orange-lit candles. Percy shook out the match he'd lit and set it down in a glass. He turned to look at me with a grin, his eyes brightened by the flames.

"I was just about to come and get you," He said with a smirk, "I always knew you were psychic." I was still a little bit shocked from… this.

"What is this?" I asked, taking a step inside. Percy stepped forward and reached for my hand.

"We haven't really gotten to spend much time together, and I figured that since all the electricity is out anyways…" I smiled and stepped up on my toes to kiss him.

"That's really sweet of you, Percy." He grinned and pulled me down to the blanket. We lay next to each other, hands connected between us. For a while, we just sat there in a comfy silence. Of course it was Percy who broke it.

"Hey Annabeth?" He said. I turned my head to see him staring at me.

"Hm?" He blinked slowly. A light blush spread to his cheeks.

"Uh… how's the cure coming?" I raised one eyebrow.

"It's coming along, I suppose." He nodded.

"Cool, cool." I chuckled.

"What else is on your mind?" I asked.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked. I smiled and reached up to move a couple of strands out of his eyes.

"Very much so. Let it out." Percy swallowed, and took a deep breath. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and pulled me up next to him.

"I was thinking..." He started.

"Oh no, not again." I teased him. He grinned and elbowed me in the side.

"Haha, come on Annabeth I'm trying to be all romantic and stuff here."

"Ok, ok, please continue with your speech." Percy smiled, but he still looked nervous.

"Well… I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and I didn't know the right time to tell you exactly…" I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. That seemed to calm him just a little bit.

"What is it, Percy?" I asked quietly. He looked straight into my eyes, all the fear erased.

"Annabeth, I love you."


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N Next one will be up in a few days!**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

_"Annabeth, I love you."_

_"Annabeth, I love you."_

_"Annabeth, I love you."_

Those words just kept echoing through my brain. I mean, sure, I knew that this wasn't some generalized high school romance that only lasted a few months. Nobody ever said it out loud, but we all were thinking it. Every. Single. Second. Of every single day. Things were different. Even after almost six years of it all I hadn't gotten used to everything.

As much as I tried to deny it, I knew that wasn't the only reason I was freaking out, either. I was freaking out because the last time I'd heard those words said to me; they'd come from Luke.

Did I love Percy? Of course I did! I didn't even have to think about it. How could anyone not love him? He was… well he was Percy, that's that. I was sure I loved him. But another thing I was sure of, was that I hadn't fallen out of love with Luke. I wasn't about to anytime soon either.

"Annabeth? _Annabeth_? Annabeth you're scaring me over here." I blinked, and realized Percy had been waving his hand in front of my face for oh, five minutes or so.

"Sorry," I croaked. Suddenly the candle flames seemed less romantic, and a little more menacing, "You just shocked me, that's all." Percy's eyebrows scrunched together, in that cute way it does when he's worried about something.

"You know what? We can just forget about all of this." He said, his cheeks a vermillion red, "I'll just take my foot out of my mouth and we can go on with life like none of this ever—" He was starting to hyperventilate, so I grabbed the sides of his face and pressed my lips tightly against his. That usually worked to shut him up.

"Perseus Jackson," I said slowly, still holding his face, "I said you shocked me. I did not say that you scared me off." You were close, but I didn't scare that easily. His smile returned, and he leaned his forehead onto mine. I gave him another short, light kiss.

"I love you too," I whispered. My heart bungee jumped off of my ribcage when I said that, but it was a good kind of adrenaline rush… with a touch of guilt. He still didn't know about Luke.

But that didn't matter. Luke was dead. The secret died with him. Luke is my past, and Percy's my present.

Percy. Percy, his face illuminated with the orange light from the candles, was happier than I'd ever seen him. His palm warmed the side of my neck.

"I love you too… too?" I chuckled and shook my head.

"You're cute when you're confused." And then I kissed him again. Ok, that's weird. I just got the strangest vision of Percy and me in a bubble underwater…

A single drop of clear liquid fell into the small vial. I sighed, it wasn't enough. That science room had held so many useful ingredients for me. It didn't hold them all, though. I realized that one thing I desperately needed was a chemical found in gasoline. Percy had once told me that the generator ran electrically, and they didn't need gas. Nevertheless, the nearest gas station that just might have any usable gas left was a two-day journey away. I pulled off my rubber gloves (we were lucky to come across a box) and stood up.

It was fairly early in the morning. Percy had guard shift this morning with Piper and Leo. I stuck the vial into my kitchen drawer and headed downstairs.

In the front lobby, the three of them were laying on their stomachs throwing cards at each other.

"Behold, the saviors of the world!" I teased as I walked in. Percy lifted his head up off his arm, and grinned at me.

"For your information, we are testing out new projectile weapons!" Piper said, waving a king of clubs towards me.

"Need a demonstration?" Leo asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Percy pushed himself up on his knees.

"Aim and fire!" He yelled, then the three of them started to fling cards at me! I laughed and held my palms up to keep them from scratching my eyes out. In the middle of the cloud of cards, Percy jumped up and squeezed my waist.

"Don't let her get out of here alive!" Leo shouted, beating his chest like Tarzan.

"You're a dork, Repair Boy!" Piper laughed.

"Never said I wasn't!" I laughed and slapped Percy's arms.

"Ok, ok, you've made your point." Percy smiled and kissed my hair. Leo made a gagging motion and covered his eyes.

"Whoa, PDA alert!" He choked. Percy rolled his eyes and laid his chin on my shoulder.

"You're just jealous that we're all in a relationship except you." Percy teased.

"That isn't true, Thalia and Nico are still both single." Leo corrected him.

"But we all know they like each other." I said, reaching up to pat the side of Percy's face, "Ever since they got back from that gas station run it's only gotten worse."

That was true. When Nico and Thalia came back from their "important mission" things between them were different. There were a lot more looks, accidental touches, guard duty as just the two of them, training time, it wouldn't be long now.

"Technicality," Leo waved it off, "But anyways, what brings you down to guard duty?"

"I need to talk to Percy." I answered.

"Please tell me that's not another way of saying _we need to talk_." Percy whined. I smirked and reached up to squeeze his hand.

"No, it means we must discuss the fate of the world." He groaned.

"The fun never stops, does it?"

"No, it does not." I sent a wave towards Leo and Piper then pulled Percy a few feet away to sit on the bottom step. He held both of my hands in his lap.

"Ok, what's new in hell this week?" He asked, awarding me his troublemaker smirk. I caressed the inside of his palm with my thumb.

"I'm almost done with the cure," I said, "but I'm still missing an ingredient." I'm not sure whether Percy was excited that I was almost done, or disappointed that we had to go on yet another dangerous quest in the zombie-infested world. Maybe a little bit of both?

"What and where?" He asked determinedly.

"Gasoline, two days away." He took a deep breath.

"Alright, you got a plan I assume?" Just a little bit, not a full on plan but I did have an outline.

"Troop 2, me and you. I haven't figured out a road plan just yet but…"

"…but you will. I know you will." He finished with a grin and a kiss on the cheek. I beamed and nodded.

"That's right, I will. Any chance you'd want to help me with that?" Percy rubbed his chin, pretending to think about it.

"Oh man. I mean, I wouldn't want to mess up all of your genius plan making routines and stuff. Plus I've got guard duty, and training…" I pulled away one of my hands and punched his shoulder playfully.

"A simple no would do the trick." He shrugged.

"Simple's just too boring for me." Percy winked.

**Thalia POV**

Alright, I'll admit it, I'm dating Death Breath. What can I say? The boy's sweet, and he's tough enough that he can handle my, ahem, "strong" personality, plus he's a pretty good kisser. That last one was just a bonus.

Nico and me agreed on the walk back (after beheading a zombie that was hiding in the shadows) that we shouldn't tell the other Revivers about us for so many reasons. I was getting enough heat from Annabeth about even liking him, I couldn't imagine how much worse it would get if she knew I was dating him. Having everyone know would only put a lot more pressure on us as it was, and we didn't need that. Sure, we were zombie slaying, world saving heroes, but we were still teenagers. Whatever hormone there were that made teenagers feel the need to embarrass their friends about boys and love and crushes, we still had them. The last thing we needed was to be distracted by all of that.

So, Nico and I decided to keep things kind of quiet for a little while. How long? Ask me again when the cure is finished, then we'll see.

But anyways, I'll stop blabbing now, and get back to the present. At the present, me and Nico were sparring in the training room. What can I say? I was whooping him.

"Take that!" I shouted as I stabbed at his stomach. He moved to the side in time, don't worry!

"One of these days," He huffed, bracing himself on his knees, "You will probably gut me. And I personally like having my internal organs on the _inside_!" I rolled my eyes and patted his shoulder.

"If you're gonna date me, you're gonna have to be able to dodge." I winked. He laughed and straightened up again.

"And if _you _are going to date _me_, then I'm gonna want at least one of my kidneys intact." I pretended to sigh and moan and groan about it.

"Fine, fine, fine, it's a deal." I said. Nico held out his hand to me.

"Shake on it?" There was a strange light in his eye, an ulterior motive. I tentatively took his hand.

"Deal?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He bit his bottom lip in thought.

"Seal it with a kiss?" That sneaky little slayer. But nonetheless I puckered up and kissed my boyfriend. Nico smiled at me cheekily.

"Don't get all cocky on me. I wear the pants in this relationship." Nico laughed and took my hand.

"Don't worry, your highness." I grinned. Good, he knew his place. No way I was turning into a housewife!

Somebody behind us coughed. Nico (thinking fast as usual) twisted my arm and flipped me over onto the mat to cover up the fact that we'd been holding hands. I craned my neck and saw Percy leaning against the doorframe.

"If you two are done making kissy faces at each other, we all need to meet up in Grover and Juniper's suite." Oh good, he said it in a teasing way.

"On our way, just let me kick some Death Breath ass real fast." I called. Percy chuckled and walked away. I jumped up and affectionately punched Nico's shoulder.

"Fast thinking, good work." I complimented him, "Now lets go pretend to have secret crushes on each other again."

**Percy POV**

I've got to give Annabeth some credit, half an hour with a road map and she came up with a full on route with time frames and everything.

"So we're gonna head up this street here," Annabeth pointed to a road on the map, "And then head back through these alleys. We can camp out somewhere along this street here, and then head onto the station in the morning which will be about an hour and a half away. If we book it, we just might be able to make it back just after dusk. Worst comes to worst, we find camp around this block here." Annabeth turned her head to look at me, "Anything to add, Perce?" I blinked and straightened up in my chair.

"Er… nope, sounds about right." She smirked.

"Mr. Jackson, dozing off in class again, are we?" Hazel snickered. The rest of the group started laughing, even Annabeth! The cure was almost done, so everyone was in a lighter mood.

"Detention for you, Mr.! You sir, are coming with us on a dangerous quest for gasoline." I tried not to smile, honest! But it sort of came out… along with a lot of laughing… and snorting… and more laughing… from everyone else.

"Aw, I think it's cute." Annabeth said, and gave me a quick kiss. Leo had to pretend to gag (again) but it was sweet anyways.

"But anyways, Jason! You guys up for this?" He smirked.

"You're kidding, right Jackson?" Percy laughed.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Troop 2, we head out at daybreak." I watched Annabeth as she went to grip Thalia's hand. I'd seen Thalia worried before, but now she looked downright frightened. I didn't blame her either, her brother and her best friend were going on an extra dangerous mission without her. I'd be scared too if I weren't going. The weird thing was, that along with Annabeth, Nico was patting her shoulder. Sure, we all knew they liked each other, but neither of them was that open about it quite yet.

"You guys going to be ok back here?" Annabeth asked.

"We'll be fine, it's you guys we'll need to worry about." Hazel said nervously. There was a V forming between her eyebrows, so Frank put his arm around her shoulders.

"No. We are as close to trained professionals as we can get. We'll be just fine." Piper said confidently. Jason grinned at her.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my girlfriend!" He said proudly. Grover smiled and reached over to hold Juniper's hand. Daisy smiled a toothy grin up at her dad.

"Ok guys, how about we get some dinner, and then get some rest?" I suggested, "We've got a really long day tomorrow."

**Annabeth POV**

Crap. I can't sleep. I'm going to have to be up and moving all day tomorrow. That's gonna be pretty hard with only an hour or so of sleep. The sheets were tangled too tightly around my ankles, they felt like they were strangling me, trying to tie me down. I growled in frustration and kicked them down to the dusty carpet.

I'll be the first to admit that the next thing I did was a complete impulse and, if my parents were still alive, I would have been grounded for eternity.

But as fate has it, they are dead and I won't be grounded. Which is why I tip toed out of my room (so as not to wake Daisy. That girl had hawk ears!) and headed straight towards my boyfriend's room. No, not for reasons you would suspect. I couldn't sleep because my head was full of thoughts that I just needed to forget about. Percy was the key to that.

He was asleep by now most likely. Even if I bothered to knock he wouldn't answer simply because he didn't hear me.

I picked up a hand towel from his counter on my way into his room where he was sound asleep in a t-shirt and some holey basketball shorts. Percy was well known for his drooling problem, so I gently moved his big head a few inches away and set the towel down on the puddle he'd made on the pillow. Strangely enough I found the drool endearing.

Without hesitation I sat down by his side and poked his thigh.

"Psst, Percy." I whispered. He grunted, but continued sleeping, "Percy, wake up." I whispered a little bit louder, this time poking him twice. Again, he didn't wake up. I sighed and rolled my eyes. God, I love him. So, I put my hand over his mouth and punched his thigh. Percy jolted up, a small muffled yelp coming from him. His limbs flailed around trying to get to the sword he kept beneath the mattress.

"Shh, shh, shh, calm down it's me." I whispered. He cooled off and pushed my hand off his mouth.

"Annabeth? What's wrong, why are you here?" His "I just woke up" voice, was extremely attractive.

"Gee thanks, I'm so glad you're happy to see me." I said sarcastically. Percy propped himself up on his elbows and blinked a few times to clear his head.

"Um… I'm sorry?" He was confused about relationships when he was fully conscious, I wasn't surprised that he was even more foggy half-conscious. I chuckled and rubbed his arm.

"Forget it, Perce. I just couldn't sleep."

"And you wanted to drag me down with you?" He asked, half joking and half irritated. I readjusted myself so that we were both leaning up against the headboard.

"I just kept thinking, and I was hoping your habit of going completely blank up here," I tapped his temple, "would rub off on me so that I could sleep." Percy smirked and tilted his head to kiss my cheek.

"You want to talk about it?" About the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about my dead ex boyfriend and the intense guilt I felt for a) not saving him, and b) not telling Percy the truth? No thank you. I shook my head and leaned my cheek down onto his shoulder.

"I just want to sleep." I whispered. He nodded and moved to hug me.

"Love you, Annabeth."

"Love you too, Percy."

"Hey Jason, could you throw me that?" Piper pointed to her hoody, which was hanging over the back of a chair in the lobby. He tossed it towards her and she caught it in one hand without looking at it. Piper and Jason were so synchronized with each other. Thalia kept telling me that Percy and I did the exact same thing, and I knew she was right. It was weird… but I liked it.

Percy straightened up and shrugged on his jacket. He turned to me and managed a troublemaker smirk that he always wore.

"You ready?" Only I heard the double meaning in his words that also asked me _You ok?_ I nodded.

"Yes, I am." I said with confidence. He smiled at me and my insides melted.

"Yo Annabeth," Thalia hopped off of her perch on the old counter and pulled into the corner, out of earshot of everyone else, "Since you are going on a deathly mission, I wanted to give you a little insight on a certain something, just in case you never get the chance to find out." She was joking, but there was truth behind her words.

"And this insight would be…?" Thalia smirked proudly and her eyes pointed me towards Nico, sitting on the stairs, staring at us. I raised an eyebrow.

"The gas station?" I prodded. She nodded.

"Yes indeed. But keep this between us, ok? Just for a while longer." I wrapped my arms around her black-clad shoulders.

"Of course, Thals." I said quietly, "I'm happy for you." She smiled at me.

"Thanks. Now go get some gas, and don't be afraid to do a little beheading along the way." She winked. I laughed.

"For you? Anything." Thalia slapped my shoulder.

"Ditto, my friend, ditto." Behind us, Leo whistled.

"Pick up the pace, ladies! We got to get going! The sun's already starting to come up, we're wasting daylight!" He sang. Thalia punched my side.

"Get going, amiga. I wish you luck." She saluted me, and marched us towards the door where Troop 2 waited. Percy put his hand on my wrist. Daisy came up and kissed everyone on the cheek just like her mother.

"Good luck out there," Nico said, "Make us proud."

"Plan on it, man." Percy gave him a "man hug" that really didn't count as a hug.

"Let's go," Frank said quietly. Jason took a peek outside.

"All clear guys." Leo seemed like the only one who was really pumped up about this. I didn't really blame him. He was always looking for the light in the darkness.

"We'll see you in a few days." Hazel said with a wave. Jason opened up the door, and then we were gone.

Honestly? The walk there was pretty uneventful. After so many years of living here, the general neighborhood that the Revivers lived in was basically wiped out. Zombies liked wandering, and the best place to do that was big fields, long highways. A big and twisty city like Manhattan wasn't cut out well for that. But on the other hand, zombies also liked flashy, attention grabbing things and New York had a lot of stuff like that.

Leo skipped ahead of all of us, singing a bunch of songs that were wildly popular back in the old world. Every now and then Piper and Jason would join in with him while Frank and Hazel just walked with their hands joined, as though they were taking a leisurely stroll through the park. As for me and Percy, we walked a good few yards behind everyone else just talking. We didn't talk about anything in particular really. In fact I don't even remember most of what we talked about. There was something about candy, maybe? Oh that's right, he likes blue jellybeans. His mom used to work at a candy shop in Grand Central Station. She would always bring him home some jellybeans when she got off. He got a little misty eyed when he talked about her, but I pretended not to notice for his sake.

In front of us, everyone stopped and walked calmly into a nearby alley.

"Company," Jason muttered, "We're getting out of the safe zone and into a lot more dangerous territory."

"Which means now is the time when we start taking these back roads that are probably a little less populated." I pulled out my map, "If we go back through this alley, we can take a few shortcuts and cut through some parking lots and then we can take some old roads from then on." Piper smiled at me.

"Lead the way, Annabeth." I did, and in about an hour we were on track. By then it was about three. Percy guessed that it was fall because the sun set later than usual. That meant that snow would be coming soon, and we needed to stock up for the winter. Zombies didn't feel cold, but we did, so they had the advantage on us should we meet them outside.

After another couple of hours, Percy stopped us all.

"It's getting dark out, we need to find shelter soon." He told me. I nodded.

"The next street over should be good," I said, taking another glance at my map. We all climb through an old alley to the road on the other side. Leo clicked his tongue.

"These buildings don't look too safe. I mean, the walls are crumbling on that one…"

"… and the supports for all of those are just seconds from rusting away." I finished. Hazel pointed.

"There's a bus over there? It looks pretty secure, we could camp out in there." She suggested. Leo shrugged.

"I'm game." We all walked on over. The hinges on the door were rusted shut, but Frank didn't have a problem prying them open, Man, that boy was strong!

Thankfully, no flesh-eaters had found their way into the bus, so it was still clean… well, as clean as a public city bus ever was.

We all settled down among the seats in the back while Frank re-secured the door and Leo brought out some Ziploc baggies from his backpack.

"You are all in for a treat," He said giddily, "I have brought ingredients for cold soft tacos!" We all fake cheered, but really we were pretty happy. It was better than stale bread and canned fruit, anyways.

While Leo assembled the tacos, everyone else got into an old world game of Truth or Dare. Although there aren't a lot of dares you can do in a bus, so it turned into a game of Truth or Double Truth.

The truths weren't really that fun, so eventually it just turned into people going around the circle, sharing stories about their old lives.

"We had this thing," Piper started, "Where we would ask each other any three questions and we _had_ to answer honestly." She was talking about her dad, and the moments they would spend together.

"My mom had a thing for making blue cookies," Percy said with a wistful smile, "They were the best cookies in the world." I squeezed his hand and laid my head down on his shoulder.

"My mom always took me to the garage with her!" Leo said from his place on the floor. He folded up another taco and handed it to Hazel, "She showed me all these things like changing oil, taking off a tire, useful stuff."

"Mine liked to talk to our dog." Frank laughed, "My grandmother called her crazy, but once I caught her talking to a bird." At that one everyone laughed along with him. I noticed that Hazel wasn't as enthusiastic as the others when she told her tale.

"My mother was a fortune teller, but she just told people what they wanted to hear and sent them on their way." She shrugged like it was nothing, "I spent a lot of time at Frank's house."

"Remember my mom, Annabeth?" Jason asked me with a gleam in his eyes, "She used to be a big star, but she fell out of the business. Our dad was just about ready to leave her, she was so obsessed with getting back in the spotlight."

"She was a real piece of work." I muttered and twiddled my thumbs.

"What about your parents?" Piper asked. The question was innocent enough. It was bound to come up at some point anyways.

"My mom left me with my dad when I was a baby and then she disappeared. I don't even know what she looks like. We could have killed her and I wouldn't even have known." I said quietly, "My dad didn't like me very much, and neither did my stepmom and her twin boys. I spent a lot of time with Thalia and Jason." And Luke.

"And Luke," Jason added in. He gave me a knowing look. Uh oh…

"And Luke." I said quietly, not looking at Percy. He rubbed my shoulder and kissed my temple, out of sympathy. If only he knew…

"Eat up, buttercups!" Leo commanded.

Jason and Piper curled up next to each other in one of the backseats. Hazel and Frank each took their own benches across from each other, but held hands over the aisle. Leo took his "rightful place" at the wheel of the bus. Percy leaned his back up against one of the windows so that his feet hung into the aisle. I sat between his legs and played with his fingers.

"Do you think things will ever be the way they were again?" I asked him softly as the others were asleep. Percy was still for a second.

"No," He answered, "They can't."

I know that in some ways he was right. Even if the cure did end up working, nobody would ever forget about any of this.

I tilted my head and kissed his collarbone.

"I love you Percy." I whispered. I felt his smile on my hair.

"I love you too, Annabeth." I felt another twinge of guilt. I wish I'd just told Percy about Luke before. He would have been cool with it! I mean, it's not like Luke's any competition for him anyways! He's a brain-dead flesh eater and Percy's alive and kicking.

He wrapped his sweatshirt-clad arms around my shoulders and buried his face in my shoulder. When his breathing slowed, I knew he was asleep.

_Urrgg._

One of my eyes snapped open, and I stared into the darkness of the bus. The light was grey, so dawn wasn't that far off.

_Graaaawr._

I sat up.

"Psst, Percy." I whispered and shook his shoulder. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes like a child.

"What?" He hissed.

_Uuuunnhhh._

His eyes widened, and all of the sudden he was totally alert. We straightened up and looked over the chairs at our friends. They were all up to, weapons out.

"Uh…" Leo's shaky voice came from the front of the bus, "You guys?" He squeaked. We all crept up towards the front to see what Leo was seeing.

There were about a dozen or so zombies walking towards us. I motioned for everybody to duck down, hoping they would just pass right by us.

Most of the zombies walked by on the driver's side of the bus, not even glancing in. One of their pack was straggling behind them. By the time he was actually at the bus, the others were long gone. I held my breath as that one zombie walked on the opposite side, where the floor length, clear glass, door was. Leo would be directly in his sight, and it was too late for him to move.

It stopped, right at the door. It turned it's head slowly to peer inside, and my heart stopped.

His milky eyes had once been a bright shade of blue. The greasy mop on his head was once a neatly trimmed blonde. The skin over his body was cracked, and tightened across his bones. The only thing about him that had not changed was the scar.

He roared and pounded his fists against the glass. Lucky the other ones could no longer hear him. Leo shouted and jumped to the back of the bus with the rest of us. The zombie punched the sweet spot on the door, and it sprung open. Everyone else thundered to the back of the bus as he lurched inside, but I stayed where I was. The zombie stood, looking down the ten feet or so between us. His dead eyes held nothing, but my eyes were already blurring with tears.

"Oh my god." I whispered.

"Annabeth, what are you doing?!" Percy shouted, but his voice was muffled.

Luke started shuffling towards me, his head was cocked and his jaw was slacked. My mind wavered, and instead of a deadly zombie, I saw him.

"Stop it." I whispered, "Stop it!" I shouted uselessly at the zombie, "What's the matter with you!?" I screamed. It didn't even flinch. Five feet between us, "Why'd you do this to me?!"

There was a pounding behind me. Someone pushed me aside, and I watched the blade go through Luke's stomach.

"Stop, Percy!" I cried. But it was too late. There was a thump, and the body slumped down next to the head. He'd beheaded him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I screeched, and shoved Percy aside and knelt down beside Luke's body. I should be disgusted, but I wasn't. I didn't care that blood was smeared all along his chin, or that he smelled like an old fish that had been lying in the sun for too long. I stared at the long scar down the side of his face. My vision blurred, and tears soaked down into his shirt.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked breathlessly, "What were you _thinking?_ He was about to eat you!"

"Why'd you do it?" I asked accusingly, "Why did you kill him!?"

"He was coming after you! I saved your life!" Percy said angrily.

"I could have saved him!" I yelled and stood up to face Percy, "I could have brought him back, but you killed him!" Without even thinking, I smacked Percy on the cheek, "You KILLED him!"

"Is that…?" Jason whispered from the back. I nodded.

"Yes, and Percy killed him!"

"Who the hell is that?" Percy asked, rubbing his cheek. I glared at him.

"Luke. His name is Luke. And now he's dead." I growled, "The cure could have saved him!" Percy's eyes widened.

"Annabeth, Annabeth I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Well when a person is yelling at you to STOP you should know to STOP!"

"But he was coming after you, and you just stood there!" Percy argued, "I couldn't just let you get bitten!"

"I can fend for myself." I said coldly, and went back to kneeling next to Luke.

"Geez Annabeth, we've lost friends before!" Percy said, "You didn't act this way before!"

"He was more than just my friend, Percy!" I blurted out.


	10. Chapter 9

**Percy POV**

I blinked as slowly what she was saying sunk in.

"He… but you said…"

"Yeah I know what I said," She snapped, "I lied." Her eyes returned to the disgusting zombie head at her feet. I almost barfed when she reached out and touched it's hair. Yuck!

"Why would you lie to me, Annabeth?" I asked solemnly.

"It was none of your business! But it doesn't matter now, does it? He's dead!" She shouted through tears.

"He was dead before, too!"

"I could have saved him before!"

"Yeah? And what would have happened to the two of us if you did? Would you have left me for him?" She didn't answer that one, and that hurt.

"It doesn't matter! He's dead now!" She cried angrily, "I don't believe you, Percy! You killed an innocent person!" I shook with frustration and anger.

"He was about to _kill_ you! Couldn't you see that? He was going to _bite _you, and _eat_ you! I saved your life!" I turned around to the silent group in the back of the bus, "You all saw! Annabeth would be dead if I hadn't done what I had!" Everyone nodded silently. Everyone but Jason, that is. Jason stepped out of the crowd and towards Annabeth. She was shaking over Luke's dead body. Jason set a steady hand on her shoulder. A tear slid down his cheek.

"Percy's right, Annabeth." She didn't move for a second.

"I want to bury him." She whispered quietly.

I knew I shouldn't be this jealous of a dead guy, but I was. I saved her life and she's too focused on her long-dead ex boyfriend to even realize that. A burst of anger grew in my stomach.

"If some of us don't leave now, then we'll never make it back before nightfall." I said in a hard voice, "I'm going ahead to get the gas, anyone who wants to stay here and bury _that,"_ I spit, "then go ahead. We'll meet you back there." Annabeth's shoulders tensed. She straightened up and cracked her neck. There was a dangerous calm look in her eyes as she took a step up so that we were face to face. Her fist came up and hit the side of my jaw.

"His name is Luke." She said coldly. I glared at her, rubbed my jaw, and brushed past her. All of the guys followed me except Jason, who stayed behind with Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth. Just before I jumped out of the bus, I turned around.

"Annabeth?" She glared at me, "We're through. Have a nice life with your dead boyfriend." I said in a hard voice. I left before she could say anything back.

* * *

"Dude, I'm sorry." Leo said, patting my shoulder as we walked to the station, "That was harsh." I shrugged.

"You know what? I'm almost glad she's gone." Frank cocked his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I kicked a rock out of my way.

"She was controlling, and temperamental. It's always her way or the highway." I ranted, "And she was so focused on finishing that cure that we never even saw each other." The words were just coming out now, I wasn't sure if I meant it or not.

"And she always had to win. If she didn't, then she'd pretend to be all nice about it, but she'd be pouting later on!" I turned to look at the two of them, "The other night, when the power went out, I told her I loved her. You know what happened? She looked _scared_." Frank's eyes widened, and Leo gasped.

"Really? But you guys seem so…"

"She pulled herself together after a few minutes and everything was fine. But I didn't understand why she seemed so nervous about me saying it. Now I get it." I said bitterly.

They nodded sadly.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before! She always acted weird whenever Luke was mentioned before! She always looked guilty, I thought it was because he was dead and she wasn't, but now I get it! She was in love with him! And she was dating me! Ugh." I groaned and kicked the rock so hard it smashed a window, "Why didn't she just tell me in the first place?! I wouldn't have been mad!" Frank raised his eyebrows.

"You would have been just a little jealous if she told you that she was still in love with him." Well… yeah. But what guy wouldn't?

"It would have been better than having her lie to me for so long." I grumbled.

"We never would have found out if I had just gotten up and hidden in the back." Leo said guiltily. I punched his arm.

"No, I'm glad you did. Better I found out now." Well sort of. Frank sighed.

"You know, Perce? I think that you should just forgive and forget." He said, "Annabeth made a mistake."

"Yeah, but then she got mad at _me_ for saving _her_ from _him. _That's still an issue." He nodded.

"True, true. But can you really blame her? I mean, if you'd killed a Zombie Hazel I'd be pretty ticked. I wouldn't even be thinking straight."

"But imagine Hazel has an ex who's a zombie, right? Well what if he comes after her and she's not moving. Would you save her, or let her die?" I asked.

"Save her, of course."

"And if she yelled at you for saving her?" Frank winced.

"I see your point." I nodded. Leo picked at his nails.

"But now things will be all awkward at home," Leo said thoughtfully, "We used to be a well-oiled machine, and now we'll be like… an un-oiled machine. All the issues between you and Annabeth will make the rest of us uncomfortable, and then we won't be able to focus so well. It'll be dangerous." Leo had a point.

"We'll be just fine," I replied stubbornly, "but there's absolutely no way I'm taking her back. Even if she begs."

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"Bye Luke," I whispered. I pat the freshly dug ground one more time, and then turned around to catch up with the others. We'd just finished burying him, and were heading home.

"You ok, Annabeth?" Jason asked. His voice was thick, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Piper held his hand and frowned. The one thing she absolutely could not stand was when Jason was upset.

I shook my head, "I just can't believe Percy did that." I choked. Hazel bit her lip and looked away. Piper mirrored the expression, and Jason stayed silent, "But then again, there are a lot of things about Percy that are just… ugh." Anger boiled up, and spilled out of my mouth.

"He's so oblivious! All. The. Time. How could anyone be that stupid?!" I ranted, "And he's in constant need of attention. All this time I've been spending trying to save the world, and he just wants me to be a girlfriend. Well you know what? I'm a little bit busy trying to revive the human race!" I couldn't stop now, "And the _drool__**, **_ew!" I shook my head, "I can't believe I put up with him for so long." We'd been together for a few weeks, maybe even a month. I didn't keep track of the days much.

But Annabeth, he did just save your life." Hazel said quietly, "Even you have to admit that you couldn't have hurt Luke, and that fact's what could have gotten you bit." Hazel was right, but I was too stubborn.

"We could have locked him in the bus, we could have run, we could have done something other than kill him." I insisted. A voice at the back of my mind kept saying _You're wrong! Hazel's right! _But I didn't listen to it.

"Let's just say that you did bring Luke back," Jason said, "What _would_ you have done?" I shook my head.

"I honestly don't know." I glanced at him, "But now Luke's gone, Percy's angry, I'm angry, and it's over. That's just that."

* * *

We returned home around six or so. Thalia nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that it was only the four of us.

"Don't worry, they're fine." Probably, "Come upstairs, we need to talk." She took a sidelong look at Nico, than nodded. We hiked up the stairs to go find Grover and Juniper, leaving Jason and Piper in the lobby.

"Annabeth! Hazel!" Daisy shouted, and jumped over to hug us. She'd recently learned how to pronounce my name without a lisp, "Where's Percy?" She asked innocently. I got down on my knees so that we were eye-level.

"He'll be here later," I said softly, "Go play so that I can talk to Mommy, ok?" She smiled, kissed my cheek, and returned to whatever strange game she'd come up with.

"Annabeth? Is everything ok?" Juniper asked. She wiped her hands with a towel and then led us to the living room. I sighed. Hazel and I took turns explaining what had happened to Thalia, Nico, Juniper, and Grover eventually. He walked in around the time we talked about Luke breaking into the bus.

"Oh my god, is everyone ok? Where's Percy?" Percy this, Percy that.

"He's fine," I said, almost angry, "The zombie was my old boyfriend, Luke." Juniper's eyes widened, and Thalia yelped. I had told Juniper the truth about Luke a little while ago. The guilt had been eating me alive. Apparently Thalia had told Nico and Juniper had told Grover, because neither of them looked surprised.

"What happened?" Thalia asked. I shook my head.

"Percy… he's gone. For good." Thalia whimpered, and turned, burying her face in Nico's shoulder. He held her tightly, not caring that Juniper and Grover were staring.

"Then me and him got into a fight, and we broke up." I finished, "They went ahead for gas while we buried Luke, they should be here in an hour or more." Juniper looked at my sympathetically.

"Oh sweetie," She firmly grasped my hand, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It's about time." I said coldly. She pursed her lips, but didn't argue with me.

The guys got home a while later with the gasoline. Frank gave it to me as Percy disappeared into the pool. With that cheerful hello, I returned to my room to work.

* * *

_Knock, knock._

"Can we come in?" Juniper asked, her head peering around the doorway. I waved her inside. She stepped around the door, and closed it tightly behind her.

"What's up?" I asked, barely looking up from my work. She rubbed her hands together and sat down across from me.

"I wanted to talk about Percy." She admitted. I bit my lip.

"There's nothing to talk about. It's over, and to be quite frank I don't want him back." Lies, all lies! Juniper twiddled her thumbs.

"There aren't that many options, you know. After Percy, Leo's the only single boy left around here." I shrugged.

"I like being on my own." My pants should be lit by now…

"The world's lonely enough as it is." She said. I still didn't look up, "Annabeth. Look at me." She commanded in her motherly tone. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Juniper was older than the rest of us, until she used the mom voice on you. I looked up to meet her eyes.

"Juniper please…" I whispered. She held up her hand to silence me.

"You and Percy have something very special." She said, "Don't let him go."

"But Juniper, he _killed_ Luke." My voice cracked. Juniper placed her gentle hands on mine.

"If Percy's mom had come on that bus, and he didn't fight her, if he just stood there staring at her as she came towards him ready to kill… would you have just stood by and let him die?" She asked, "No matter how much you love someone, there comes a point when you just have to let them go. If Beckendorf had realized that, then he would be alive. That point hasn't come for you and Percy." She patted my hand and stood up, "Make the right choice, Annabeth." She whispered, and then left.

In my heart, I still didn't believe that the point had come for Luke and me. I still could have saved him. If Percy's mom had been there, well then we could have found a way to save her. He did not have to die.

At least, that's what I told myself.

* * *

**Percy POV**

"Come on, Perce. Just go talk to her." Grover whined. I punched the bag again.

"No. She made her choice, I made mine." Punch.

"Both of you were angry, and not in your right mind." Jason said. I stopped the bag and turned to face them. Jason was lying down on the mats where we fought each other, Nico lazily walked on the treadmill and Grover stood against the wall, staring at me.

"Look, she's still hung up on Luke, and I killed him for good. That's all there is to it." The guys sighed. I'd been telling them for almost three days now that it was over. We needed to get out and stop thinking about this, "Come on." I started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Nico asked. I didn't bother looking over my shoulder.

"The library a few blocks away. It's been awhile since we've done a killing raid." None of us ventured too close to the library. We hadn't seen too many corpses walking around near there… "seen" being the operative word. It was extremely big, and there were a lot of places for a zombie to hide in there. Grover gulped.

"That's not a good idea, Percy. You're not in your right mind and one of us well get hurt." Sometimes when he was having a panic attack, Grover's voice would get pretty high to a point where he sounded like a goat bleating.

"You don't have to come with us, G-man. We'd understand." Grover was really the only one of us with a serious tie to this place. Sure, Jason had Piper, but Grover had Daisy. He shuddered and shook his head.

"No, I'm coming with you. I can be your sense of reason." I punched his shoulder playfully, and grabbed my sword.

"After you, guys."

* * *

Once Grover kissed Daisy and Juniper goodbye, we were on the road once again. Jason and Grover walked behind Nico and me. They were whispering, and I could pretty much guess about what.

"What are you doing, Percy?" Nico asked. I shrugged.

"What do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I _mean_ that you're being a moron, and that's coming from me." He said, "Going on a suicide mission isn't going to get Annabeth back."

"I don't want Annabeth back," Well, not really… sort of….well maybe… "I want to see some heads roll." Nico rolled his eyes.

"Sure, Perce."

"I'm serious." I swung my sword through the air, "What's the point of all this work on the cure if we never get it to work? We'll see a lot more progress if we just kill as many zombies as we can, teach our kids to kill zombies, and eventually the zombies will go extinct. It will take some time, but it's much easier, and it could very well be faster."

"You've gone nuts, Percy." Nico said, "All of those zombies were people once. Living, breathing people. I'm all for hacking them up if it means I get to live to see another day, but just killing them?"

"Better them than us." I said. Nico sighed, but didn't say anything else.

* * *

We jumped up the steps to the big, brick building that once was the library.

"Do me a favor? If you see any kids books that Daisy might like, pick it up. We're teaching her to read, and old newspaper clippings aren't the easiest." Grover said. We all nodded and stepped inside.

The stench hit us like a wall of rotted skin, blood, and five year old garbage.

"Oh yuck! Bleh, I'm gonna be sick!" Grover shook his head and stuck out his tongue like a dog. I stepped in and took a look around us. We had stepped into a large room filled with bookcases. Above us was a glass skylight, and a balcony surrounded the top level, giving us a small view of the second floor.

"I don't think anyone's been in here since the epidemic." Jason said, examining the doors, "These doors are still clear on the inside."

"Well good, that means that there might not be too many zombies in here." I said, "Split up. Nico, you and me. Jason, take Grover up to the second level and do some searching. Pick up anything good you see, and meet back here in twenty minutes." I ordered. They nodded and disappeared up the staircase.

"Let's go look in the back offices." I said to Nico. He followed me through the twisting staircases, every now and then picking up a book or pen and stuffing it in his backpack.

In the back were three doors; one of them was for the librarian, one was used as a workers lounge, and the other was for visiting business people to use. Nico kicked in the door of the librarian's office. Just as I'd suspected, it was empty.

"I don't blame her," He said, lifting a picture of an old woman up from the desk, "I wouldn't want to stay in this place either. It's too big to be safe, and all the bookcases are too easy to hide behind." We went around, picking up some office supplies, tissue boxes, just basic stuff. It was my turn to kick in a door, so I kicked at the worker's lounge.

Inside were a few scattered tables, some overturned chairs, a refrigerator and some cabinets.

Oh, and two zombies.

They both sat at one of the tables. Cobwebs were attached to them, as though they hadn't even moved all these years. Maybe they hadn't.

When Nico and I walked in, their heads creaked to turn and look at us. One of them was strangely dressed as a hippie girl with a tie-dye dress and a lot of beads around her neck. Her hair (what was left of it) was black and greasy. Her eyes looked like two milky white orbs. A weird hissing sound came out of her mouth.

"Does it… does it smell like snakes in here?" Nico asked, lifting his nose to the air. It did… that's weird.

It wasn't hard to take care of the two zombies quickly and silently. There were only two of them, and they were stuck to the chairs by the mass amount of webs around them.

"We should probably warn Grover and Jason. If these two stuck around, who knows who else did?" Nico nodded.

When we walked out of the lounge, we passed the other door to get to the stairs and a banging sound came from behind it. Lots of groaning, lots of scratching.

"Maybe we should just leave the door closed." Nico said, "I mean, eventually they'll rot into nothing, right?" I was reluctant. Even leaving some alive was a danger to us. I grunted and banged my fist on the wall.

"Fine. Let's go find Jason and Grover." I muttered.

"AAHHH!" A scream echoed through the room from somewhere above us.

"I think I found them," Nico squeaked. We both looked up to see Jason and Grover running from a mob of the dead around the balcony. Jason grabbed the stair-railing and slid down it. Grover jumped, but his foot got grabbed by one of the corpses.

"Help!" He yelled. Grover swung his bat and miraculously hit the head of the flesh-eater just before she took a chunk out of his arm. He kicked out and managed to hold them back as the three of us ran towards him.

"Hang on, Grover!" We yelled. He hit his bat onto the head of one of the zombies. It growled and grabbed his ankle. He kicked out, hitting it on the nose. The force propelled his body backwards, sending him down the stairs just as we reached the bottom of them. Grover screamed, and tumbled down. There was a _crunch_, and he fell in a heap at our feet.

"I don't think they've figured out that they can use stairs yet," Jason said, looking up at the angry zombies, "We need to get out of here."

"Fooood," Grover moaned.

"He's not walking anywhere," I said, trying hard not to look at his twisted ankle, "Everyone grab him and get out!" Jason lifted him at the knees while me and Nico took his arms. Just as the first zombie took a step down the stairs, we shut the library doors behind us.

* * *

"FOOOOODD!" Grover groaned as we shoved into the base. Annabeth and Hazel were on guard duty.

"What happened?!" Hazel asked, her voice going up five octaves higher.

"We went out on a raid, and Grover broke his ankle." Nico explained, "No one's bitten."

"When did you go out on a raid?" Annabeth demanded, "We thought that you were in the training room!"

"Well we weren't," I said angrily, "Now help us get Grover upstairs." It was easier to lift him up with two more people. In no time we were at Juniper's suite.

"Grover!" She shouted and rushed over to us as we laid him down on the couch.

"He'll be ok, don't worry." Annabeth said gently, then she turned to glare at me, "Care to explain what happened?" She snapped. I opened my mouth, but Nico beat me to the punch.

"We went on a raid at the library down the street and got attacked." She raised an eyebrow.

"And who's idea was it to go on a raid without telling anyone?" They didn't hesitate to point at me.

"Thanks guys." I grumbled. Annabeth grabbed my arm and dragged me a few feet away.

"What the hell were you _thinking?_" She spit, "You could have gotten Grover killed!"

"Well I'm so sorry I wanted to get rid of some of those flesh-eaters before they found their way over here!" I hissed angrily. We tried to keep it down so that we didn't disturb Grover, but I'm sure it wasn't too hard to hear us. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not even going to point out how stupid you sound right now." She growled and shoved past me to tend to Grover. I walked behind her to look at the old guy.

His eyes had opened, and he was talking to Juniper as she wrapped his ankle in an old towel, to set the bones right.

"I found a book for Daisy," He said hoarsely, "It's in my bag." She smiled, and bent over to kiss his cheek.

"That's very sweet of you, she'll love it." She said lovingly. Grover sighed and leaned his head back.

"Percy?" He asked. I looked at him, "I don't think I can go on raids anymore," He admitted, "I need to stay here, with Daisy and Juniper." I nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry about it, G-man."


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N Ok this chapter is a little shorter than normal, but the next one will be a lot more exciting. It should be up in a couple of days. Thanks for all the reviews!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

"You can't seriously want to keep this up." Nico said, "It's been a week. Our team is falling apart all because the both of you are too stubborn to say you're sorry." He was right. Ugh.

"I have nothing to apologize for." Yep, there's that stubbornness he was talking about.

"You did kill her ex-boyfriend. I'd apologize for that if I were you." Leo said. He was half-joking half-serious.

"I did! Remember? When she told me who it was I said sorry! Then I got slapped." Frank winced.

"I remember that. She's got a hard hit." Jason sighed and sat up.

"Percy, be the bigger man. For the good of the team, just fix things. You don't have to date her, but you can't go on hating her." I groaned.

I was mad at Annabeth, I didn't hate her. In fact, I was head over heels in love with her. Which is probably why I was so mad that she chose a corpse over me.

But they were right. Everything around here has been so tense, and the few raids we've gone on have been unsuccessful because the "team dynamic" was off.

"I'll go talk to her."

**Annabeth POV**

Thalia swiped, but I ducked and kicked. She jumped, and attacked again. It had been going on like this for quite some time now.

"Come on Annabeth, I'm getting bored over here!" Thalia whined and punched her spear at my stomach once more.

"Well then switch it up a little!" I stabbed at her side and she rolled.

"Mind if I cut in, Thalia?" We both stopped and straightened up. Percy was leaning in the doorway staring at me.

"Be my guest," She said, almost relieved, and rushed out before I could yell at her. Percy twirled his sword around his hand and stood across from me.

"You come to kill me too?" He winced. Ok, I'll admit it, that was harsh. But he shrugged it off and hefted his sword. He wasn't going to attack first, he almost never does. I was the first one to strike towards his chest. It was an easy block.

"We need to talk," He said as we clanged blades.

"Do we?" I growled. My foot kicked at his ankle, and he hopped to the side.

"Yes. Our problems with each other are affecting everyone else now, and that isn't ok." He stabbed at my head and I ducked down.

"No, it isn't." I said. I kicked his ankle and he fell down. He kneed my hand and my blade clambered down to the ground.

"Annabeth, look…" I didn't let him finish. I punched his arm and kicked his blade away, next to mine. Now we were both weaponless, just like the first time I fought him.

"No. I will speak, and you will listen." That little voice at the back of my mind told me to stop talking because I was being an irrational idiot, but I didn't listen to it. Percy pressed his lips together and stood up, brushing his hands off on his shorts.

"Fine, talk." He grumbled. I crossed my arms and clenched my fists. What did I have to say to him? For days I'd been plotting a big speech in my head about how he killed Luke in cold blood, about how he didn't think I could fight on my own and that he was acting like a big, jealous baby. I opened my mouth to let it all pour out, but the words got caught in my throat.

Ever since we buried Luke that day, I'd known it was me who was overreacting. In the back of my mind I knew that I was the baby here, but the irrational lovesick puppy that lived inside me was still hurting over Luke, and that hurt was coming out as anger. Percy was the easiest target for that anger, and I knew that this was all my fault.

But still, the fact that there's a slight possibility I could have revived Luke still nagged at me, and made it hard for me to just move on from this.

Well, the best way to move forward is to bury my pride.

"I'm sorry." I said, "I've been unreasonable about this whole thing." Percy's eyes widened in surprise.

"I… was not expecting that." He said. I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck.

"I know you just did what you did to save me, really I do." I said, "And I was only angry because a part of me wasn't ready to let go of Luke just yet." Percy winced just a little bit.

"I can understand that." He said. I could tell that he meant it, and that it was hard for him. I bit my lip.

"It's just… Luke was my rock for so many years, and he meant a lot to me. Even after he got turned, there was still that little hope in my heart that we would make the cure work, and we would save him." I admitted.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth in the first place?" Percy asked, "Why did you lie to me?"

"Because I was selfish, and I wanted to keep him to myself. Somehow I thought that the less people knew about me and him, the easier it would be to keep pretending that he was still mine." Percy nodded.

"I get that. I don't tell a lot of people about my mom either." But you told me about her, and yet I kept Luke a secret.

"So… can we move past this?" I asked boldly, "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to stay mad." I really wouldn't. Percy sighed.

"We all make mistakes, Annabeth." He said with a small smile, "It's ok." I smiled at him, "Now come on, let's train to kick some zombie butt." There was a sinking feeling in my stomach. Percy noticed, and frowned, "What's the matter?"

"Percy I've been thinking," I said, "I don't want to kill zombies anymore." His eyebrows shot up.

"Uh… what?" I walked slowly to retrieve his sword and my dagger.

"I don't want to kill them anymore," I repeated, "You may not like this, but seeing Luke again just made me remember that they were human once. They can be human again if I finish the cure, and I can get the cure done faster if I focus on that instead of wiping them all out." Percy raised his eyebrows.

"Those… those _things_ aren't humans anymore. They're monsters, and they will kill us in a minute if we give them the chance!" He argued, "We can't just lock ourselves in until this cure gets finished, if it ever does." Ouch, right in the pride.

"Are you saying that I can't finish the cure?"

"I'm saying that it takes decades to develop cures to anything, and that was back when we had high tech labs and resources. Who knows how long it'll take for a single person to finish a cure this huge with the limited workspace and limited ingredients." Wow, Percy Jackson the voice of reason? I never would have thought it.

"But I'm so close, Percy, so close! Don't you remember that it was scientists who started the basis for it in the first place? I'm only finishing what they started." Percy took his sword back.

"Grover isn't going to go on raids anymore so that he can stay back and keep his family safe, I'm doing the exact same thing by going on raids. I'm keeping my family safe by getting to the zombies before they get to us and tear us apart."

"You always have to be the hero, don't you?" I asked scathingly, "Why can't you just take a step back for one moment and realize that what I'm suggesting _may_ just work?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He said firmly, "I'm not dropping my sword just so you can play doctor." This was pointless. I sighed looked down at my dagger. My own eyes stared back at me.

"I can't stop you." I said, "So do you what want. But I'm not doing it anymore." The dagger slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor. Percy bent down to pick it up, and I didn't wait for him to respond.

_Two weeks later_…

Percy and me haven't spoken since that day in training. I have no idea if he's mad, or sad, or what. All I know is that this cure will fix everything. Everything including my relationship.

The final drop settled in the bottom of the beaker. I tilted it, and poured the substance into my vial.

It was finished.

I almost laughed out loud I was so elated! It was done! Finally done! I had to test it, I had to cure somebody! I rushed to the window and stared outside. It was dusk, but this wouldn't take long. There was a zombie just outside in the park across the street from the hotel. He looked very young.

I considered telling the others that it was finished, but what better way to tell them than to show up with a cured zombie? As quickly as I could I poured the cure into a syringe.

Everyone was likely eating dinner at Juniper's. For the past few weeks she's delivered dinner to me later, knowing that I was deep in my work. I walked down the hallway, and slid down the stairs. The guards would be by the front door, so I could slip out of the fire escape on the second floor.

The night air was cold. We had already been storing more food than usual in preparation for winter. Frank had guessed that it would be another month or so before winter finally came, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

I approached the large fountain in the center of the park. Just a few yards ahead of me was a big toy store. Out front sat a young zombie, only nine or ten years old I'd bet. He was just sitting there, staring at a lamppost down the road. He hadn't noticed me yet.

"Hey!" I called, not loud enough to attract any other zombies, but loud enough to get his attention. The small corpse's neck snapped towards me. His mouth opened to show two rows of pure black teeth. The poor thing looked so angry, I didn't blame him. He began to waddle towards me, and I walked to meet him halfway. I reached out a hand and put it on his greasy head so that he couldn't get too close. He growled and gnashed his teeth but I didn't waver. The needle went into the side of his neck, and I pushed the plunger down.

**Percy POV**

"Where _is _she?" Thalia asked for the thousandth time, "This can't be happening…" It was so dark outside that we could barely see the street in front of us. Juniper had gone to Annabeth's room to bring her dinner like usual. But when she got there, Annabeth was gone.

"She wouldn't have left without telling anyone," Juniper said, "She has to be around here somewhere. It's a big hotel, maybe she got lost?" I shook my head. How could I have let this happen? And to Annabeth! It was so dark, she was in huge danger if she went outside, which was probably where she was.

I stood up, "Jason, have your troop check all the hotel rooms. I don't want one room left unchecked, got it?" He nodded, "Nico, take Troop 1 and go check up on the roof. The blockades are up, so you should be safe, but just in case take some flashlights." He saluted.

"What about us, Perce?" Grover asked.

"Stay in you and Juniper's place with Daisy just in case she comes back." I ordered, "I'm gonna go check the pool, the rec room, those places." I lied. Everyone nodded, and leapt into action.

When the last person had disappeared, I opened the door and slipped outside. What? If I'd told them they'd never let me go out and look by myself. This was between Annabeth and I, and I wasn't about to risk someone else's life because of us.

We didn't use flashlights very much just because it wasted the few batteries we had. But hey, better to be out of batteries than to be dead in the dark.

As it turns out, finding Annabeth was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Directly across the street, the shadows were clumping together in one distinct spot. Every now and then I'd see a small flash of gold. Annabeth.

I darted across the pavement towards the mob of slightly darker shapes. I switched the flashlight on, hoping that it would get their attention.

"Hey, uglies!" I called. The light hit their faces on and off like a strobe light.

"Percy?" Annabeth shouted. She kicked and slashed out a few feet in front of me.

"Talk later, right now: kill the zombies!" There were maybe ten or fifteen of them crowding around us. I took one big swipe with my blade and knocked two of them down. Annabeth kicked and pushed a couple of them down like dominoes.

One by one, each of the zombies went down. I beheaded the last of my zombies and turned around to see Annabeth finishing off hers. It fell to the ground with a thump and it was only Annabeth and me. She gulped and looked up. The guilt was so obvious I almost laughed. I would have if I weren't so angry.

"What were you _thinking_?" I asked and stepped over a leg to walk towards her, "Leaving the base _alone_ and at _night?_" I spit, "Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? What would have happened if I wasn't here to help you? These zombies would have overwhelmed you!" Annabeth looked down and wiped some blood off of her arm.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. I huffed.

"Let's just get back and tell everyone you're ok." I said, and walked towards the hotel, Annabeth trailing behind me.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N Ok this chapter is kind of short, but the next few are gonna be sooo intense and I just can't wait to get to them! We're almost halfway through the story so bear with me!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

"She hasn't come out of her room since last night when you brought her home. I couldn't get her to tell me why she even left in the first place." Thalia told me, "I'm a little worried, Percy. She looked kind of crazy." To be honest, I was surprised none of us had gone too crazy so far. I mean, dead people are walking around eating us. That isn't exactly something you just get used to.

"I'm gonna go see her." I said. Thalia wished me luck and headed downstairs to take her turn on guard duty.

Annabeth's door was cracked open, and every now and then I could see her moving inside. I knocked lightly on the door, but she didn't answer. I heard muttering coming from the other side, so I just pushed open the door.

"Annabeth?" She was standing with her back to me, looking down at the kitchen table.

"Will this…? No that can't be… why didn't it… oh crap…" She just kept on muttering to herself, not even hearing me.

"Annabeth?" I said a little bit louder.

"Oh no that won't work… I wonder if this would do it…no, no, no…" I watched for a second as her hands shook above the table. A tiny vial among about thirty slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor with a crash. It was empty, but Annabeth looked down at it like it was her heart she'd just broken.

That's when she went completely over the edge. Annabeth started to scream and cry and rock back and forth on the floor.

"Annabeth!" I shouted, and went down to her side. I don't think she even saw me. She just huddled into my chest and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She shivered and put her head down on her knees.

"I can't do this anymore. I just… I couldn't do it. I thought I could, but I couldn't, and now there's nothing that I can…"

"What are you talking about?" I interrupted her babbling. She looked up at me with red eyes and a tear streaked face.

"The cure, Percy. I thought I finished it and I went out to test it and it just… it just didn't work. The kid attacked me, and the sound brought all the others…" Oh… that explains things. She buried her head again.

"Shh, shh, it's ok." I whispered, stroking her hair.

"We're all gonna die. We'll run out of food or those things will get us. I can't do anything about it, and now we're all just gonna die." She cried.

"I won't let you die, Annabeth. I won't let any more of us die." I assured her, even though I couldn't even assure myself of that, "We'll be ok. We'll find a way to fix things, I promise. Just calm down." She stopped whimpering, but she didn't stop shivering.

"I'm so sorry." She said in a shaky voice, "I wasn't ready to let go and it almost got me killed. You saved me, and I punished you for it. I'm so sorry, Percy. I'm so, so sorry." She said into my shirt.

"It's ok, Annabeth. It's over now." I bent my head and rested my lips on her hair.

"I love you Percy." She sniffled.

"I love you too."

* * *

"It's about time you two made up! We were gonna host an intervention soon." Leo teased us. We were all seated around Grover and Juniper's living room eating dinner. Annabeth sat by my side, acting perfectly natural. It was almost like she didn't have a meltdown a few hours ago. Frank had told me they'd heard her screams, but figured they shouldn't check it out. Leo kept grinning at us, so I figured someone must have come down, seen us, and left.

"Oh aren't you hilarious, Leo." Annabeth said drily.

"In fact, I am." She rolled her eyes and looked out the window, "The sun's setting. Hazel, Leo, it's our turn to guard." Hazel wiped her mouth and stood up.

"Right behind you." Annabeth leaned over and kissed me.

"See you later." I smiled at her as she followed Hazel out. Leo trailed behind them trying to tie his shoelace in mid air. When they were gone, it was just me, Grover, and Nico. Frank and Jason were still downstairs doing guard. They wouldn't be up for a few minutes. Piper must be down there entertaining Jason, Thalia was training, and Juniper was putting Daisy to bed.

"Guys, can I talk to you in my room for a second?" I asked. The two of them followed me down the hall.

"What's up?" Nico asked as I closed the door. I took a deep breath.

"Listen, I want to go on a raid tomorrow." I said. Grover opened his mouth to object, but I shushed him, "Trust me G-Man, you'll want to be there for this one. I can promise you that where we're going is completely safe." He pursed his lips.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Nico asked.

"My old apartment. There's something I want to pick up."

* * *

"Where did you tell them we were going?" Nico asked again as we picked our way through an old alley.

"I said we were headed up to the roof to check the blockades, and then we were going for a swim." This was one raid I didn't want the others to know about just yet.

"Just a few more blocks," Grover remembered.

"Your leg healed pretty nice." Nico said, trying to make small talk.

"Yeah, it did. It's kind of amazing the things Juniper can do with a couple of herbs. It's like she's one with the trees or something." He joked.

"I wouldn't doubt that." Nico replied with a smile.

"Guys, we're here." I said. The three of us stood on the sidewalk, looking up at my old building. We'd pretty much cleared out this area, so we didn't usually get many zombies. Every now and then a pack would come along, like the ones that attacked Annabeth, and the ones that decided to jump through our roof. That had been a _huge_ pack! But anyways, that's off topic.

I remembered back to when we had stood in this exact spot every day after school. The three of us liked to hang out with my mom since Nico's house wasn't all that… er, hospitable, and Grover's mom liked to eat all natural junk. My mom baked cookies, therefore I won.

"Are you going to tell us why we're here yet?" They asked. I shook my head.

"You'll see." We walked through the closed door and walked up the stairs.

When me, Grover, Nico, and the Stolls had been traveling around, we all contemplated coming back to my old apartment to hide. I'd voted against it. It would be too hard. Eventually we circled back and found the Plaza, deserted.

For a little while, I would come back here and visit. Sometimes Grover came with me, sometimes Nico did, sometimes it was just me. It took a little while, but eventually we got the entire building cleared out and set up blocks around it. We decided that if we ever needed to move, this was the place to come.

My old apartment looked the same as it did when I left last time. No matter how hard I scrubbed, those bloodstains wouldn't leave the carpet.

"Come on, to my mom's room." We walked back to the bigger bedroom at the end of the hall. When we walked in, I had to bite my tongue to keep from tearing up a little bit. My mom's pajamas were still on the bed, and Paul's shoes were still by the door. Nico and Grover watched me while I walked to my mom's nightstand.

"Before the Stolls buried them, I took these from my parents." I said, my back still turned, "I just… I wanted to have something from them." They nodded. I turned around, the box in my hand.

"Perce, is that what I think it is?" Grover gasped. I nodded, and opened the velvet ring box to reveal my mom's wedding ring beside Paul's.

"Does this mean that you're going to…?" Nico asked. I grinned, and I nodded.

"Yes." I said.

"Not to be a party pooper, but are you sure about this?" Grover asked, "I mean hey, I'm all for marriage, but the two of you just got back together. You don't want to scare her off again."

"I know, I know." I said, shoving the box in my pocket, "But I was thinking about it earlier. Annabeth means everything to me. Even after that issue on the bus I still cared about her. And I know she loves me back."

"Well duh, we can all see that." Nico said.

"Exactly. I don't want to wait around for too long. Who knows if we'll even be around next week? I won't ask her today, or tomorrow, but I'm gonna ask her." Grover smiled and clapped my back.

"Congrats, Percy." Nico grinned.

"Good luck buddy." I smiled at them.

"Thanks guys." I sat down on the edge of the bed, "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about, actually." I said, "Listen, Annabeth's pretty headstrong." Nico laughed.

"Hell yeah she is!"

"And if something were to happen to me… I have no idea what she'd do." Grover nodded in understanding, "I just wanted to ask you guys to keep her safe. I might not always be around to do that, and I want to know that there will be someone there to keep her from doing anything rash."

"We got your back, dude." Nico promised, "So long as you do the same for Thalia."

"Are you gonna ask her out or not!?" Grover burst. Nico winked.

"All in good time."

* * *

**Thalia POV**

"Annabeth, will you please stop pestering me about him?" I whined. She just kept on asking and asking and asking about when me and Death Breath were gonna tell everyone we were together.

"No, no I won't. I just can't see why the two of you don't tell the others already. You love him, he loves you…"

"If you start singing I will punch you." I warned.

"Thalia just let it out! It can't be fun just sneaking around all the time."

"Actually, it's a lot of fun." She rolled her eyes.

"You're hopeless."

"That I am."

"Thalia!"

"Annabeth!" She groaned and banged her head on a nearby wall.

"Hey, hey, hey, watch the walls! I don't want to have to waste any wood repairing holes." Leo complained as he entered my suite, "So what are we talking about?" He asked.

"Girl stuff that you don't want to know about." He blushed.

"Right, got it. I'll be out of your hair in a second. But first…" He walked towards my counter and dropped a heap of metal junk on it.

"What is that?" Thalia asked. Leo smiled proudly and gestured towards it like the women in cocktail dresses on game shows.

"This, ladies, is an old radio, like cops used to use to communicate. It's an old one though, it still has rabbit ears! I'm gonna hook it up and see if I can pick up anything." He said and started messing with knobs and wires and stuff.

"Why do you need to do that in here?" I asked.

"I was lonely in the other room." Leo pouted. I didn't really like being alone either. The only reason I was able to do it for so long working on this cure was because I had a goal.

"Ok, take your time. Thalia, we will discuss this _later_." I promised. She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes.

We spent about a half an hour playing Go Fish while Leo cleaned up the radio. Eventually, a crackling sound came from it.

"I got it working!" Leo shouted, "Now to see if there's anyone else out there…" He started twisting random knobs and pressing random buttons, "Hey, can you guys help me with these antennas?" He asked and pointed to the two wire sticks coming out of the top. Me and Thalia sat down on either side of Leo and held the antennas as he instructed.

"This right?" I asked. Leo nodded and bit his tongue in concentration. The static started to cut in and out, and sound came from the machine.

"There's someone on here!" He exclaimed excitedly, "Can you hear us?" He asked, speaking into the microphone. A fuzzy voice came through, a male voice.

"I don't know who's out there." It said, "But my name is Malcolm Chase." I gasped. Malcolm! Thalia looked at me with a crazy grin, "I think that I've figured out the cure." Malcolm said, "Whoever's listening, you need—Camp—Island sound—Hurry!" His voice started to cut out. The final sound that came through was a blood chilling scream.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N I am sooo sorry this chapter was so delayed! Life came up, let's just leave it at that.**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

Malcolm. When Luke and Jason had rushed Thalia and me out of town, Malcolm had been away at college somewhere in the Midwest. We'd never been able to find him, so I'd been forced to assume that he was gone.

And now…

"What's going on?" Nico asked. He, Grover, and Percy walked into the apartment. My head snapped up and my eyes connected with Percy's.

"Annabeth?" He asked, seeing the pain in my eyes. I opened my mouth and a choking sound came out.

"My brother," I finally said, "Leo hooked up this radio, and…" I tried to swallow but the lump in my throat wouldn't go down.

"Malcolm said he thinks he figured out the cure." Thalia finished, "But…"

"We're pretty sure he's dead." Leo finally said. Their jaws all dropped. Percy reached out and cradled me in his arms. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry._ I failed, and tears started to trickle from my eyes.

"But we aren't sure." Thalia added, "We heard him screaming, but maybe he survived." Leo nodded.

"We have to go find him," I said, "It sounded like he's on Long Island Sound somewhere, at a camp."

"There are tons of camps around Long Island Sound." Grover said, "We would have to go around and check each one."

"So? Let's do it." I sniffed and wiped my eyes with sudden determination, "Let's find him."

"Tomorrow," Percy insisted, "I know where we can start." He gave a look towards Nico and Grover. The two of them nodded in understanding.

"Camp Half-Blood." Nico said, "That'll be an overnight trip, though."

"We can stay in Grand Central. Remember? They decided to use it as a safe house, but soon everyone cleared out. The place is secure enough for one night." Percy said.

"Who's going, though?" Thalia asked, "Troop one or Troop two?"

"It's my brother. I'm going." I said. Percy rubbed his chin.

"It might be helpful to have more people on this trip. It would take less time to search an entire camp if we had everyone." Grover coughed awkwardly.

"I'll stay back with Juniper and protect base." He volunteered.

"It's settled then." I said, "We leave in the morning."

* * *

Grover and Juniper took nightshift that night to give us all a good night's rest before we journeyed out tomorrow. After dinner, Percy and me went to my room for some time alone together. He sat criss-cross on the couch beside me and took my hand in his.

"How did your raid go today?" I asked. He shrugged and didn't look up as he played with my fingers.

"Same old, same old. No biggie." He said.

"Find anything good?" He smirked pinched my ring finger.

"Yeah, I think so at least. Maybe I'll show you after we get that cure." His eyes flashed up to look at me and grinned. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he had looked down again.

"So what happens to us after we get the cure and the human race starts to come back to life?" I didn't bother adding in an _If it works _or an_ If we survive_.

"Well Grover, Juniper and Daisy are probably going to find their own place. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason and Piper, and Frank and Hazel did too. Leo will be helping everyone hook up their lights and stuff probably. Nico will finally ask Thalia out and they'll live happily ever after…" Percy looked up at me expectantly, "I'd hate to break that pattern the other couples have made." His tone made it sound like a joke, however his eyes made it a serious question. I pulled my hand out of his grasp and slid so that our knees overlapped. My arms went around his neck and I looked him straight in the eyes.

"I bet apartments will be a lot cheaper." I said, smiling. He beamed and stretched his neck to kiss me.

"Can we have a DVD player? Cable probably won't be up for ages, and I miss television." I chuckled and mussed his hair.

"Only if we have some movies that _I_ like." I said.

"It's a deal!" We shook on it, and the deal was sealed. Percy sighed as he looked out the window, "It's getting late." He said forlornly, "We need to get some rest."

"We'll need all our strength for tomorrow." I agreed, though I wasn't ready for him to leave me just yet. Percy stood up and bent down to kiss me goodnight.

"Night, Annabeth." He whispered. I grabbed his hand as he moved to stand up.

"Could you stay with me tonight?" I asked, "I've been alone a lot lately." He smiled gently at me.

"Of course I will." He said.

* * *

We lay on our sides facing each other. Percy had one arm over my waist and the other I used as a pillow.

"Are you scared?" He asked, "About tomorrow, I mean." Was I? It was hard to tell what scared was anymore. After living with that terror in your belly for so long, you got used to it. My fear scale had been out of whack ever since this started.

"I'm scared of what we might find." I finally decided, "I'm desperately hoping that Malcolm's still alive, but that scream… it's hard to believe he survived." My voice cracked a little bit. I couldn't help the tears that came next. I was crying a lot lately and I hated it. Percy pulled me closer and put his chin on my head.

"It's ok, it's ok." He soothed me.

"He's the only family I have left." I whispered, "I don't want to lose him yet."

"I understand." He said, "I hope he's alive too." He paused for a second, "I just hope he doesn't want to have the boyfriend talk with me. I already got that from Jason." Oh Percy, the only boy who could possibly make me smile when I feel so down.

"Goodnight Percy."

"I love you, Annabeth."

* * *

"I feel like we do this a lot." Hazel said as we all stood at the front door, preparing to leave. Juniper nodded as she squeezed us each one by one.

"Tell me about it." She grumbled. Daisy waddled after her mother and squeezed around each person's thighs just after Juniper. We guessed that her birthday was sometime around now, which meant that she was now six years old.

"See you soon." She said to everyone. We all smiled and kissed her cheek as she went by. Her youth was a good way to remind everyone that life still goes on. Sometimes, it goes on for a little too long.

"Have fun, Perce." Grover said. "Send us a postcard or something from Camp."

"Will do, G-Man." They bumped fists and that was the end of that goodbye.

We didn't waste a lot of time on goodbyes like usual. Juniper opened the door, and that was that.

* * *

They say the best part of a trip is the journey there. That rule still applies to post-apocalyptic rescue missions. On the walk to Grand Central, where we were spending the night, Percy kept on trying to get me to skip there singing _Follow the Yellow Brick Road_. I ended up going along with it for a while, but then we started to attract a few stragglers and had to shut up.

"Dance with me, Annabeth." Percy said dramatically. He gripped my hand and spun me around in the middle of the street. I couldn't help but let out a couple laughs, even with the gloomy cloud hanging over my head.

"Percy, stop it. This is a serious mission." I said sternly, but smiling.

"Kiss me, and I might." He winked. I rolled my eyes and punched him instead.

"You two are making me nauseous." Leo stuck his tongue out and gripped his stomach.

"Doesn't matter. We're here." Jason looked up at the old train station. The gates in front of us were locked up tight. There was no way a zombie could have snuck in there after all these years.

"Climb on up." Frank rubbed his hands together and hopped up onto the fence with Hazel close on his tail.

"After you." Percy said graciously. He lent me a hand (even though I didn't need it) and helped me up.

"I wish we could have seen this place when it was running. That would have been so cool!" Thalia said wistfully as we passed by a couple stalled trains here and there. Nico smiled at her. Those two's "secret" relationship was so obvious, I'm pretty sure Percy had even picked up on it by now.

"We should bunker down for the night." Jason suggested as he glanced around, "How about one of those stores? It'll be easier to defend in a smaller area." Percy nodded.

"Oohh, there's a candy store over there!" Leo shouted excitedly. "We are so going there!" Percy seemed hesitant, but followed the rest of us in anyways.

Jason and Piper wandered towards the flavored sugar dispenser while Leo found his way to the Jelly Beans. Hazel and Frank started to check expiration dates on chocolate bars while Thalia and Nico had a sour string-whipping contest. Percy wandered in the doorway and stood for a second.

"Percy?" I asked, putting a hand on his wrist. There was a sad smile on his face, "Are you alright?" His eyes turned for a moment to look at me. There was want in his eyes, mixed with some hope.

"Yeah. I am." He finally said. Percy took my hand and dragged me towards the blue taffy.

* * *

We all settled in that night with our pockets filled with sugary sweets. Jason and Piper made pillows out of those bags of cotton candy for everyone. Those two curled up behind a shelf of gummy worms so that they didn't have far to walk when it was their turn to take watch. Leo happily laid down underneath the jelly bean machine that he'd rigged to drop a bean into his mouth every thirty seconds. Frank and Hazel volunteered to take first watch. Percy, Thalia, Nico, and me went into the manager's office to rest for the night. While Percy and Nico talked about different places in camp to search, me and Thalia had a conversation via facial expression.

First I gave her the _You and Nico telling anyone yet? _She returned the look with a _Yeah right. Not yet. _I glanced towards Percy to say _Well, what about Percy?_ Thalia puckered her lips in thought, then shrugged and nodded like _Yeah, sure, ok._

"Hey Nico." She interrupted the two guys, "Time to tell Percy." Nico's cheeks turned pink.

"You sure about that?" He asked nervously. Thalia nodded. He gulped, "Uh Perce?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Nico took a deep breath.

"I might have used your toothbrush to help Juniper clean dishes once or twice. Then one time I went into your room and put a worm or two in your bed…"

"You did what?!" Percy shouted. Thalia reached out and smacked Nico's arm.

"Not that! I meant about you and me." Nico turned an even brighter red.

"Oh right. I knew that…" He muttered, "Thalia and me are together." He said calmly to Percy. Thalia grinned proudly and reached to take Nico's hand. Percy's eyes widened in surprise. Huh, maybe he hadn't caught on quite yet.

"And I'm only hearing about it now?" He asked with irritation. Thalia shrugged.

"It makes sense if you think about, but I don't feel like explaining right now." She said lazily, "Well, now that that's out of the way, good night." She stretched her feet out in front of her and tilted her head back on a wall. Nico smiled and went to sit next to her.

"Wait a second, I'm still confused!" Percy groaned. I chuckled and took his hand.

"I'll explain for you, Seaweed Brain." The two of us laid down underneath a table while I told him the whole story and Thalia's explanation of keeping it a secret (which I still didn't agree with).

"That's… confusing." He said when I finished.

"Thalia's confusing. You get used to it." Percy smiled and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and I saw something shining slide down his cheek, "Percy are you crying?" I asked, propping myself up on my elbow. He opened his eyes and I saw that they were red.

"Is it unmanly of me if I am?" He asked, almost sarcastic. I used my thumb and wiped the tear away.

"No," I murmured. He sniffled and I watched another tear fall, "What is it?"

"This is the candy store my mom worked at." He explained. Oh yeah, he'd told me that once, "I'm just feeling sentimental, I guess." I leaned down and kissed him. His lips tasted salty.

"It's ok. I get it." Percy reached up and wrapped his arms around me. I settled comfortably on his chest. Every now and then a shudder went through him as he continued to silently cry. I didn't blame him for it. He's handling all of these reminders of his mother much better than the way I handled Luke.

I felt Percy bend his head down and bury his face in my hair. I squeezed his hand, telling him that everything would be ok. Even though I wasn't so sure of that myself quite yet.

* * *

In the morning, we all packed up and said goodbye to Grand Central Station. We expected to be at Camp Half-Blood later that evening. It was around now we would be nearing some "busier" streets, and we needed to lay low in the shadows to avoid attracting too much unwanted attention. Leo seemed the saddest of us all to say goodbye to the jellybeans, but he did it anyways.

After an hour or two, we came upon a grocery store that they hadn't looted yet.

"Who's up for some looting?" Leo asked mischievously.

"If we ever get a cure, I'm going around and giving money to all these stores we've stolen from." Hazel said guiltily.

"There's an eighty percent chance that the owners of the stores are dead beyond repair." Piper pointed out. Hazel turned a little green, and so Frank put an arm around her shoulders. Yep, old married couple for sure.

"Let's stop wasting time talking about sad things, and start talking about happy things. Such as the amount of cans left on these shelves." Nico said, stuffing some green beans in his backpack. We all separated into the aisles and stored what we could in our bags.

"Ugh, the smell in here is really starting to get strong." Percy said, crinkling his nose. I pulled my shirt up over my nose to try and block out as much as I could.

"Let's just hurry up and get out." Nico called, "I'm about to pass out from this stench!" I narrowed my eyes in thought.

"Why is it getting stronger?" I asked. A bad feeling started to grow in my stomach.

"Guys!" Hazel squeaked, "Look outside." We all gathered around the front windows, and went silent.

Outside, there couldn't be less than a hundred zombies walking towards us.

"They must have been following our scent or something." Thalia said.

"What do we do now?" Frank's voice was shaking. Everyone turned to Percy, and Percy turned to me.

"We have to fight them." I said, "Otherwise they'll just follow us all the way to the camp." Frank noticeably gulped.

"That's a lot of zombies." Hazel said, "Can we take them all?" I nodded.

"There are nine of us. That means about ten or eleven zombies for each of us." With those statistics, it actually sounded optimistic.

"They're getting close." Thalia said, "We don't want to get cornered in this place." She hopped off of the check out counter she was standing on, "Say your goodbyes." With that she grabbed Nico's collar and planted a kiss on his lips in front of everyone. Oh wonderful, it's the school all over again.

"See you on the other side, Jason." Piper said, almost smiling.

"I love you, Hazel." Frank said. He placed a gentlemanly kiss on her lips.

"Annabeth." I turned to see Percy sweating bullets, "If we're about to die, then there's something I want to say before we do." My heart stopped when he got down on his knee and brought out the ring, "Annabeth, will you marry me?"


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N This one is super short and I'm pretty sure most of you will absolutely hate me for it ;) I WILL POST THE NEXT CHAPTER TODAY! IT'S ALREADY ALMOST FINISHED SO EXPECT IT WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS!**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

I stared down in shock at the ring in his hand. It was simple: a golden band with a perfect sized diamond in the center. My heart thundered in my chest, and I tried to control the butterflies in my stomach.

I leaned down and pulled Percy up to his feet again. My hand covered his that held the ring and I squeezed.

"Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see." I said with a small smile. Percy beamed at me, knowing that meant yes. I cupped his face and gave him a gentle kiss before we all walked out into the sunlight to face our doom.

* * *

They were everywhere. Men, women, children, all sorts of them. The smell of rotted flesh mixed with the musky air, making my head spin. Within the first few minutes of the battle I lost sight of everyone, including Percy.

Eventually, my mind went into autopilot, and I was forced to hack, and chop, and skewer without even focusing on what I was doing. But every time I would kill one zombie, two more would show up before me. It was all that I could do to make sure that _I _didn't get surrounded and eaten alive, let alone take a moment to find my friends.

Once or twice I saw Thalia through a gap in the crowd. Another time I caught Hazel, falling to the ground. I tried to fight over to help her, but the zombies just got in my hag grabbed my knife arm and prepared to take her out, but my foot had her writhing on the ground in a matter of seconds. A man started clawing at my hair, and I had to chop off an inch or two of my own curls just to get him away. I suddenly heard a lot of screaming coming from a few feet in front of me, so I started to hack my way forwards. At least, I tried. The flesh-eaters started to push back at me, keeping me cornered.

We were being overrun, and it wouldn't be long before we were surrounded, if none of us already were.

"We need to run!" I shouted as loudly as I could over the moans and growls. Piper surfaced a few feet away from me, hacking away.

"Where? They're everywhere!" She yelled back at me. She was right, the best bet we had was running back into the store and hiding. But the glass front would let them see us, and if enough of them built up they would break in and we'd be trapped.

Did we really have a choice anymore?

"Annabeth!" I heard Percy yell. I saw him a few yards to my right, fighting through the crowd to reach me. "Annabeth!" He yelled. I rushed towards him, dodging flailing limbs as I went. Percy turned to me for a moment, took my hand, and pushed something into my fist.

"What are you—?" He interrupted me with wild eyes.

"Get the others. Get back in that store and close the doors. I'll lead them off." He said, back turned to me as he chopped off another head.

"But what are you going to—?" Again, he cut me off.

"NICO!" He yelled, "Remember your promise to me!" He shouted. Then his sea green eyes turned back to look at me. I saw fear, and determination in them.

"Annabeth, I love you." He said. A sick feeling settled in my stomach.

"Percy, what are you doing?" My voice was quivering. He didn't answer me. Instead he pushed me back into the arms of Thalia. Thalia tugged me backwards, into the grocery store, and slammed the door. I was vaguely aware of some of the others hiding in the back, but I pressed myself up against the glass to find Percy.

He was standing on top of an overturned dumpster on the edge of the crowd. He hadn't been surrounded just yet. My mind clicked, and I understood exactly what he was going to do.

"Percy, NO!" I screamed. Arms grabbed my hands before I could open the doors. I recognized Nico pinning me down on the ground. I shrieked, and kicked, but soon Jason came and helped hold me down. "Let GO of me!" I shouted in their ears. My eyes shot up, and I had a front row view.

Percy's eyes shut tight as he brought his blade up to his hand. He gripped the blade tightly, and slit the sword out of his grasp. Blood began to drip down towards his feet, and the zombies were noticing. A couple of them lifted their noses to the air, and their milky eyes turned towards Percy.

"Come get it," Percy taunted them, squeezing his fist to release a few drops onto the faces of the ten or fifteen that were already starting to swarm. They went nuts! Soon, the zombies that hadn't come towards him smelled the wound, and started forwards. Percy scattered a few more blood drops, then scrambled off of the dumpster.

"Come on you brain dead morons, chase me!" He yelled over his shoulder. I watched Percy bolt down the street, praying in my head that he would make it to safety in time.

Zombies are stupid, but they're smart enough to know when they need to run after their food. The mob started to chase Percy, just like he'd told them to.

As we watched, one started to gain on him.

"PERCY!" I screeched at the top of my lungs. His head whipped around just in time for the corpse to grab his arm. It's slacked jaw opened, and came down on his arm with a crunch. Percy's scream echoed down the street, and my heart stopped. The rest of the mob caught up to them, and Percy's body disappeared in the midst of dead bodies.

I started struggling again, desperate to reach him, to save him.

"Get off me!" I screamed, and kicked Nico in the face. He jumped backwards as Jason lost his grip on me. I jumped to my feet and raced to push open the door, but a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders and pinned me on my back. Thalia sat on top of me holding down my arms while Piper sat across my legs.

"Annabeth stop!" Thalia yelled. I thrashed to get out from under her.

"Let me go! Let me go! We need to save him! He needs HELP!" I yelled, not even realizing as the tears started to flow again. Thalia pressed down on my wrists and put her knee on my chest. Her blue eyes were watery.

"It's too late, Annabeth." She said sternly. I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.

"No, no he's not! He needs help! He NEEDS me!" I cried. My mouth tasted salty from tears. I wrestled away from her and kicked Piper off of my legs. I pushed the doors open and ran out onto the street. Where Percy had been just a moment ago, there was nothing but a pool of blood; too much blood for anyone to survive.

The zombies had dragged his body away to feed.


	15. Chapter 14

Annabeth** POV**

Jason rushed out of the store after me and grabbed my arms just before I started running in the direction they'd taken Percy.

"NO! NOOO!" I shrieked. Tears splashed down into my mouth. At this point, I was too tired to fight them anymore. My knees collapsed, and I sank onto the dusty road in Jason's arms. "Oh god, Percy… why? Why? Why?" I cried into my hands. I felt Jason hug me tight, and Piper telling me she was sorry. It wasn't long before Thalia tugged on my arm.

"Annabeth? Annabeth we need to get back inside." She whispered. I followed her eyes to a mob of about ten zombies all huddled together around something.

Or someone.

"Come on, Annabeth. Get back in—" A furious screaming interrupted Jason. Hazel burst out of the grocery store, her golden eyes on fire with fury. She lifted her sword high above her head and ran straight towards the mob.

"Hazel STOP!" Thalia yelled, but she was too late. Hazel reached the mob and started hacking. The rest of us stared in shock as within thirty seconds flat, Hazel killed over ten zombies on her own. It was then that I saw exactly whom it was they had been feasting on.

Hazel fell to her knees beside what was left of Frank. I turned my head as she went on all fours and threw up on the ground at the sight.

"Get Annabeth inside, I'll go get Hazel." I heard Nico whisper to Thalia. He ran towards the poor girl bawling her eyes out over her lost lover among a sea of dead bodies. I tried not to picture Percy in his position, even though I knew that was probably what he looked like right now.

Oh god. Percy. Percy, Percy, Percy, _Percy. MY _Percy. Jason nudged me up, so I stood, the tears still falling freely from my eyes. For the first time, I unclenched my fists and a small object fell to the floor with a clink. I looked down at my feet, and stared directly at the ring Percy shoved into my hand just before he…

I bent down slowly, and gently lifted it off of the ground to place it on my finger. Thalia put her arms around me, and took me back inside.

All I wanted to do was kick, and scream, and cry, and yell, and just be angry at Percy for leaving me, and sad for the same reason. I wanted to explode from the pure pressure that lay in my chest.

I didn't though. I'd let out enough of that. I knew that was the last thing Percy would want me to do. I knew he'd want me to be strong and keep fighting for humanity. So, that's exactly what I was going to do. I would bury all of those terrible feelings and set them free the moment we had that cure in hand.

Hazel was another matter. She went completely catatonic after witnessing Frank's torn up flesh. She didn't even move when we buried him. She just stood there, looking down into the shallow grave where Frank, wrapped up in an old sheet, lay to rest. We were lucky she was so small. Jason hefted her up on his back, and we left. Nobody knew if those zombies would come back, and we weren't sticking around long to find out. I stayed silent during the walk.

When dusk fell, we took refuge in an old museum surrounded by a large gate. Jason, Nico, and Piper and joked about the first time they had been here and ransacked the place for it's weapons. Hazel didn't make a sound.

The six of us fell asleep on some couches in the back offices, which were blocked off from the rest of the museum. Jason and Piper held onto each other while they slept, probably feeling lucky that they were together. Thalia and Nico weren't quite as showy, but I did notice that they never strayed more than a few feet from each other. I took first watch as Hazel took a seat at a desk and sat with her legs pressed up against her chest.

After about a half an hour, I pulled up a chair next to her and hugged her. Warmth splashed onto my shoulder as her tears soaked into my shirt. We sat together for an hour or so, just crying over our heartbreaks. When another half hour had gone by, Hazel finally fell asleep. She needed a little break from reality just as much as I did.

While she slept, I started thinking again. I thought about Percy. He had the most amazing eyes, and his smile always made me feel spongy inside. A pang of sadness shot it's way through me as I thought about the last thing he'd told me. _Annabeth, I love you. _

His death wasn't fair. He'd been devoured alive by those monsters. His flesh had been torn from his body by those mangled teeth…

Anger started to heat it's way through me. I clenched my fists and breathed through my teeth to try to push it down, but it continued to bubble up inside of me. Ugh, I needed to hit something…

Everyone was asleep. I stood silently from my seat, and raced outside into the night air. The moon was full, so I had a clear sight of the entire street. Luckily for me, it was just filled with those corpses. I flipped my dagger around in my hand before running towards the one closest to me. I drove the blade down into its neck and spun it around to slice its head off. The others on the street started to realize that something exciting was going on, and were walking forwards.

I ran straight into the center of them and started attacking. I wasn't even aiming for the heads anymore, I was stabbing, and slicing, and chopping everywhere. For every zombie that fell at my hand, I pictured Percy. For every head that rolled down the street, I said his name. For every body that slumped to the ground, I told myself that it was for Percy. As I chopped my way through the night, I kept on repeating in my head: _They killed Percy. They killed Percy. They killed Percy. _

When the final zombie fell to the ground, I let out a scream into the grey morning.

When the others came out to the front steps of the museum, they found me sitting huddled on the bottom stair surrounded by over fifty corpses.

* * *

**A/N So, I probably could have smushed this chapter and the last chapter into one chapter instead of having two tiny chapters, but I saw the chance for a cliffy and I took it. Keep on reading! Trust me, you'll want to find out what happens next ;)**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N I'm sorry this is late! Long story short: life. But now it's summer break, therefore I'm hoping my updates will be a lot quicker!**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

We were all silent on the walk that day. Nobody was ready to talk about it yet. The seven of us trudged down a dusty road for a few miles. Pretty soon, Nico veered off and started to climb up a hill with a tall pine tree at the top.

"This is it," He said, staring down into the valley, "Camp Half-Blood."

Down below us was a large strawberry field filled with dead fruit. Beyond that was a rock climbing wall that had already begun to crumble. There were a few volleyball courts, and some broken basketball hoops here and there. To our right was a jumble of rundown old cabins, and to our left was a large, faded blue house.

"We should stick together, there are a lot of hiding places around here." Nico said, "If Malcolm's hiding anywhere, it would be the Big House. We should start there." None of us argued. Out of our little group, Nico knew the most about this place.

Everyone followed black-clad Nico down the hill and towards the broken down house.

"The door's kicked in," I said quietly, pointing. Jason pulled out his sword.

"I'll go in first." He volunteered. I shook my head.

"Let me, it's my brother." Jason pursed his lips in concern, but didn't stop me when I stepped inside, blade out.

Light shone into the room from the windows. There were multiple fold out tables set out with piles of paperwork and various vials set out on top of them. I walked silently through the next doorway, and into the kitchen. There were canned foods and other sorts of non-perishables on top of the counter, while empty boxes and such were stowed in the trashcan. Someone had been living here, that's for sure. Now where were they?

"Malcolm?" I called quietly. Silence, "Malcolm?" I said a little bit louder. There was a thud above me. I gulped and went to find the stairs.

I was lucky that the entire house had windows. Light filtered into every corner of the place. I slowly made my way down the hallway.

"Malcolm." I said once again. The thump came again from a door near the end, a groan soon followed it. There was something different about this groan though, it wasn't an I'm-going-eat-your-brains groan.

It was human. A human in pain.

I ran towards the closed door and threw it open. There was my brother.

Malcolm was sitting in a wooden dining chair with his feet duct taped to the legs, and his hands tied together in his lap. When I walked in, his grey eyes turned up to look at me.

"Ann-Annabeth." He said hoarsely. I dropped my knife and knelt at his side to undo his ties, "N-No, leave them." Malcolm choked, "I'm turning. I don't want to hurt you." For the first time, I noticed the gnarled skin on his shoulder.

"Oh Malcolm," I whispered. Tears started to bud in my eyes, but I wiped them away, "What happened to you?"

"I ran l-like everyone else. It took some time, but I cleared this place out. It's been deserted for a year, except for the ones I s-studied."

"Old habits die hard, huh?" He smirked a little bit, and then continued talking.

"I was testing my cure. The nasty little devil bit me." Malcolm winced, "But I solved it, Annabeth, I solved the cure." A small but proud smile lit his face.

"What is it, Malcolm?" I gripped his wrist a little too tightly and he whined.

"It's… it's…" He coughed, and blood splattered onto my cheek. His hands shook as he lifted them, and pointed directly at my heart. Malcolm shuddered one more time, and then he was gone.

I knew better than to stick around and cry. He could turn into one of those monsters any second. I wiped my tears away, and straightened up.

"I'll come back for you, Malcolm, promise." I said. With that, I left the room and shut the door behind me.

"Malcolm's turned." I said gravely, "I tied some string onto the doorknob of the room he's in. Nobody open that door." I ordered. "The front room is filled with his notes. It'll take me a few days to go through it all. We may be here longer than we thought."

"So what do we do?" Jason asked. I squinted towards the setting sun.

"It's getting late. That house is huge, I'm sure we can all find a place to sleep for the night. Malcolm said the camp is cleared out, so we should be safe. Tomorrow, we can go exploring." Thalia put her arm around my shoulders and the rest followed us inside.

Jason offered to take the first watch with Leo. Malcolm had himself tied up pretty good, but you never know how sturdy anything is anymore. Thalia and Nico shut themselves in one of the rooms, while Piper led Hazel to a couch where Jason could keep an eye on her while we slept. Leo sat at Hazel's feet.

I was worried about Hazel. She hadn't spoken a word since Frank. He was her other half and now… now he was gone. She didn't know what to do with herself anymore.

It almost made me feel guilty. Hazel was so sad, and it showed. I was still fighting, still carrying on, still living. I knew that's what Percy would want, and that fact made the guilt go away.

When the sun was just starting to rise in the sky, the six of us gathered on the porch of the Big House. I expected Nico to plan out what to do, considering he knew this place fairly well. Surprisingly, everyone turned to look at me. I sighed, and starting giving out orders.

"You and Piper search around the house, see what you can loot. Leo, you search around back, keep Hazel with you." He nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thalia and I can look around by the amphitheater and sports equipment shed." Nico volunteered.

"I'll look around the cabins. Malcolm said that this place is safe, but keep your eyes peeled anyways." I said. Nico nodded, gripped Thalia's arm, and led her towards the courts. Jason and Piper disappeared into the house, while Leo took Hazel to the garage.

The cabins were probably the strangest assortments of buildings I'd ever seen. One had grass growing on the roof, another had smokestacks, and another had barbed wire around the roof! What kind of camp was this anyways?

I decided to look around the cabins closest to me. One was huge, like a temple, and it had lightning bolts on the doors. The other was smaller, but still fairly large. Peacocks adorned it's walls. The insides were obviously made more for decoration than anything else. I didn't find a single sock, let alone anything else that could be of use.

After that, I traveled around the U shape that all of the cabins made. I found assorted clothes that could fit us, most of them were orange T-shirts. Every now and then I'd find a bottle of sunblock that could be extremely helpful what with us wandering around in the sun all day. In a few cabins there were pictures on the walls of different campers all in orange T-shirts. I liked looking at them, it reminded me of better times in the old world. I figured the others would like looking at them too, heck Nico and Grover may even know some of these kids. I stowed all the pictures I found in my pocket, and continued on.

By the time I reached the final cabin, I had found maps, clothes, toothpaste, some sunglasses, a few swimsuits, shoes, books, all sorts of goodies. In one cabin I found an entire stash of sodas and candy under every single bed! Daisy would like having some sweets.

I stuck my loot in a pile in the center of the ring, and walked towards the final cabin. It was a low building with grey, rock walls studded with seashells. The moment I opened the door, my heart stopped.

This was Percy's cabin. Photos of him, Nico, and Grover adorned the walls. Everything was messy, not unlike his room back at the base. Most of all, the air smelled like the ocean. Like him.

It was so easy to imagine him here. I could see him running around on the beach, scaling that climbing wall like a pro, hanging out and laughing in here with Nico and Grover. It was like he was right there with me.

For a moment, I just sat down on his bed. I closed my eyes, and I pretended that he was sitting next to me. I almost didn't open them again. I didn't want to face the disappointment of reality.

But time doesn't stop, no matter how much you want it to. Soon enough I was forced to open my eyes and loot my dead lover's old cabin. There was a lot of swimming trophies stowed on the shelf. I picked those up too. Every little thing in there that had anything to do with Percy, I brought with me.

"What did you find?" I asked as I stepped into the Big House porch.

"We found the zombies Malcolm was doing tests on." Piper shuddered, "They were dismembered and ew." Even Jason looked a little green. Leo was the only one looking bouncy.

"There was an old truck out back. It's got a half a tank of gas, that's enough to make it back. We'll probably be able to load up all Malcolm's notes, and anything else you found." Leo said proudly.

"And Hazel?" I asked, a little softer. Piper bit her lip.

"No change. She's inside on the couch." I nodded.

"I'm gonna go talk to her. Watch out for Nico and Thalia." I clapped her shoulder and walked in.

Hazel was curled with her knees tucked under her chin. It looked like she was watching TV, except there wasn't any electricity.

"Hazel?" No response. I moved and sat beside her on the couch. She still didn't move, "Hazel? It's Annabeth." I reached out and put a hand on her hair. Her golden eyes never left the blank screen. I figured she wasn't anywhere near talking yet, so I just filled the silence on my own.

"I know what you're going through." I said quietly, "I'm going through it too. Percy's in the same place Frank is." Her eye twitched at his name, "You know, that first night? I got so angry, and so sad, that I just went and killed. I killed everyone on that street. Instead of leaving them, and saving them when we make this cure. I just killed them. They probably weren't even the ones that… you know. But I did it anyways." Hazel didn't say anything. I stroked her hair.

"Every second I just want to curl up and hide. I just want to scream, and kick, and cry, and blame everyone for everything." I swallowed, "I want to stop the pain." Tears were falling down her cheeks in sync with mine, "I don't, though. I keep fighting. It breaks my heart, but I do it anyways. You want to know why?" I don't wait for a response, "Because that's what Percy would want." I said, "He wouldn't want me to wallow in pain. He would want me to keep him in my heart, but never stop fighting for what's right. If I don't do that, then he died for nothing." Hazel squeezed her eyes shut.

"It hurts, Annabeth." She cried, "It hurts so bad." I rubbed her back.

"I know, I know. Trust me out of all of us, I know exactly what you're feeling."

"No," Hazel whispered, "No, you don't." Her eyes flickered to me, "You didn't have to watch." She said, "You didn't see them eating him alive, you didn't see Percy's insides spread out on the street." She grit her teeth, "I did. And that image isn't leaving my mind anytime soon." Hazel straightened up and put her feet on the floor. "The same thing happened to them both, but you got the luxury of not having a front row seat." Hazel stood up, "You're lucky that way. I wasn't."

"Hazel I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—" Much to my surprise, she smiled at me.

"I know. And you're right. He would never want me to spend the rest of my life crying over him, he'd want me to be there to help save the world." Hazel wiped her tears on her jeans, and took a step towards the door.

"He'd be proud of you, Hazel." I said from the couch. She turned to me one more time.

"Annabeth," She started, "For your sake, I hope you never find Percy's body, dead or otherwise." I nodded in understanding.

Honestly, a part of me was praying that he had gotten away with only a bite. But then my rational side would kick in, and remind me that he was dead. His corpse was laying somewhere, half of it in various stomachs, and I could only hope that I would never see it. That's the best closure I was gonna get.

"We got some nice tools Leo might like, and some paint that Daisy can play with, plus about ten cans of gasoline." Thalia and Nico dumped their spoils on the porch.

"Take a little detour, did you?" I picked a leaf out of Thalia's hair. The two of them blushed, and I noticed a few pieces of grass stuck to Nico's shoulder.

"Sue me." Thalia grumbled. Piper laughed behind her hand, and Leo gave Nico a thumbs up.

"Load it into the back of the car," I pointed to the faded green truck next to the house.

"Excellent, see I knew that gas would come in handy!" Thalia slapped Nico's shoulder and he rolled his eyes. They picked up their things, and dumped them in the back along with the things I'd found, and the things Jason and Piper had scavenged from the house like food, blankets, etc. Near the back of the bed were the boxes filled with Malcolm's notes and assorted vials.

"It's getting kind of dark out. Maybe we should drive home in the morning, just to be safe?" Jason suggested. I nodded.

"Sounds good to me."

After a brief dinner of canned baked beans, everyone settled in for the night. I took the first watch, and promised to wake up Thalia for the second.

It was a beautiful night. I found myself walking towards the beach on the far end of the camp. I couldn't help but think of Percy as I stood in the sand, staring out at the waves. I closed my eyes, and breathed in the smell of the water.

"You look beautiful in the moonlight, you know that?" My eyes snapped open, and I turned to see Percy standing next to me. He was in a plain T-shirt and jeans, hair ruffling in the slight breeze, eyes light with amusement. There was no blood or dirt on his clothes. It was as though nothing had ever happened to him.

"Percy?" I whispered, my voice hitched up an octave. He gave me his signature troublemaker smirk.

"The one and only." My jaw was hanging open, but I couldn't bring myself to close it.

"A—are you real?" I whispered. Percy's head bobbed side to side as he thought about that.

"Um… not really." He finally answered. Oh crap.

"Am I going crazy?" Percy chuckled.

"You were always crazy, Annabeth." He said fondly, "A good crazy. You always will be, too. That's what I love about you."

"You mean loved?" I asked grimly. Percy shook his head.

"No, love. In life and death, right?" I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it just wouldn't go down.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I'm so, so sorry." I apologized, "It's all my fault that you're dead. It's all my fault…" Percy reached out to touch me, but shied away.

"It's not your fault, Annabeth. It was my choice. I wanted to save you, and I'm glad I did." He said softly, "Now wake up, and save the world, Wise Girl."

I yelped and shot up out of the sand. A dark figure jumped out of my way.

"Whoa! Chill out, just me." Thalia held her hands up in surrender. I gasped and put my hand on my heart. It was only a dream, only a dream.

"Sorry Thals, I fell asleep." She shrugged.

"We're pretty safe here. The watches are just a precaution." Thalia helped herself to the sand next to me, "You want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Whatever it is that's on your mind." Thalia has a sort of sixth sense that no one can explain. Poor Nico. I shrugged.

"What's there to talk about? You already know why I'm sad, that's all." Thalia sighed and put her arm around my shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Percy." She said, eyeing the ring on my finger, "For what it's worth, I think you would have made a beautiful bride." I smirked.

"Thanks." She shoved my shoulder.

"Now go get some sleep, I'll take over." I smiled and started walking back.

My dad and step brothers are zombies, my stepmom has been eaten, my ex boyfriend is dead, my would-be fiancé is dead, and my brother is a zombie. One thing's for sure, I'll always have Thalia.


	17. Chapter 16

**Annabeth POV**

That truck is probably the best thing that has ever happened to us. What used to be a two-day trip, turned into a two-hour trip. It would have been an hour and a half, but we had to take a detour so that the car didn't attract any zombies and lead them to the base.

"I can't wait to see the look on Daisy's face when she gets a load of all the stuff we brought back for her!" Piper said happily.

"That is if Leo leaves her any candy!" Jason smacked the back of his head.

"I only had a couple Skittles! Nico's the one that's stashing some in his boots!" Leo accused.

"Am not!" The little corner of red sticking out of his shoe said otherwise.

Thalia and I laughed as we walked up the steps of base. Hazel, who walked in front of us, stepped forward and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Hazel knocked once again, and there was still no answer.

"Grover?" I whispered through the wood, "It's us. We're back." Silence. That sick feeling I'd become so accustomed to started to grow larger. Leo stepped in front of us and jiggled his screwdriver through some slits in the wood. The little block that we kept shoved in the slot popped out and Leo was able to shove his hand through and open the door.

Grover wasn't on guard like he should be. Other than that, everything looked the same as usual.

"Grover? Juniper?" We called up the stairs, "You guys up there?" Hazel reached out and squeezed my hand tightly. Thalia's breathing was heavy, and for once Leo was silent.

"Come on," I whispered hastily, "Guards up." I led the way up the winding stairs towards our hallway. All the doors were closed, and nothing was out of place. It was all silent, and that's what worried me.

"Grover?" I called one more time.

"Annabeth?" Juniper peered out of her room, "Oh thank god you're back!" She jumped out the door and rushed into my arms. Her shoulders were shaking, and my shirt felt wet.

"Juniper! What happened? Where's Grover?" She sniffled into my shirt and held me tight. I noticed Daisy peek out from around the door.

"Daisy?" She had red eyes and dried tears on her cheeks.

"He came and attacked us." Daisy said in a tear-filled voice, "He bit Daddy, so Daddy ran away. He said he didn't want us to get hurt." I handed the sobbing Juniper over to Piper, and crouched down in front of little Daisy.

"A zombie bit your dad?" I whispered in disbelief. She nodded and rubbed her eyes.

"Mommy made me hide in the closet so that I didn't see, but I saw." Daisy reached out her arms and I didn't hesitate to hug her tightly.

"Juniper? What happened to the zombie?" I asked. She sniffled and straightened up again.

"Grover chased him off." She licked her lips and wouldn't meet my eyes, "Please tell me Percy's with you. Please, please, please." I looked down and shook my head.

"We lost him, and Frank." Juniper choked back a sob and covered her mouth.

"Oh god I was afraid of that…" She whispered.

"Why?" Her green eyes looked up to stare at me.

"The zombie that bit Grover… I think it was Percy."

* * *

"That's impossible, Juniper. Percy's dead." I felt like such a broken record. After Juniper had broken the news, we'd all gathered in her apartment to swap stories, "He got bitten and dragged away by a huge herd of corpses. As much as I hate saying it, there's no way he could have survived that."

"I know what I saw." Juniper insisted, "I hoped it wasn't him, but when you came back without him…I knew."

I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be him or not. If it really was him, if he really had gotten away with just a bite, then I could save him. But if Percy was one of those _things_… was that something I was ready to see?

"Enough of this debate." Piper said, "Let's just focus on the cure." Jason nodded in agreement.

"Annabeth, you're the only one of us who has any hope of understanding all of your brother's notes and stuff." He said, "I think you'd get along better without all of us trying to help." He smirked. Well, he wasn't wrong.

"I'll take care of it." I said, "I'll let you know when I've figured it out." Malcolm's final clue was still bugging me. He'd pointed to my heart, what did that even mean? I needed blood from my heart? There was a vein in there that I needed to cut? The disease stemmed there? What?!

"Unless that cure is gonna take you another year to figure out, I think we should hold off on any more raids." Nico added, "We don't want to go out there and kill, when there's a chance we can revive them. We got enough food and things from Camp Half-Blood to tide us over for a while."

"That's a good idea." I complimented him.

"As great as all this sounds, right now, I think we need to unload the truck and get some rest." Thalia said. She slapped her knees and stood up.

"I'll help you." Piper said. The two of them disappeared down the hall. Jason and Nico went downstairs to take their watch.

"Hey Daisy, we found some cool stuff at the camp we went to." Leo said with a smile, "Want to come see?" The toddler nodded and followed him downstairs, leaving Juniper and me alone.

"We should start a club." She said miserably, "You, me, and Hazel." She didn't have to explain what kind of club.

"Don't worry, Juniper. Once we've got this cure made, we'll find him and save him." She gave me a watery smile.

"I have faith in you, Annabeth." I bit my lip.

"I hope it pays off." I said quietly. I'm not sure if she heard me or not.

* * *

A storm hit us that night. Rain splattered against my window, and lightning flashed outside. While everyone slept through the night, I was pouring over Malcolm's notes. In all honesty, I was jealous. All of his stuff was so well organized, so thorough, and brilliant! After studying some dismembered zombie parts (ew) Malcolm had found out exactly how that miracle pill had worked. You see, it was supposed to send this substance around your body to slow the progression of growth. The problem is, that it didn't work out exactly how it was supposed to. Instead of slowing the progression of growth in your entire body, it only slowed the progression from the stem of the brain.

The stem of the brain is what holds all human instincts: nourishment, movement, attraction to things like light and sound, that kind of stuff. When the rest of the body died, the stem of the brain didn't. It kept the body moving and feeding.

Once Malcolm had figured that out, he'd studied the actual zombie bite. It was fairly basic, thank goodness. The substance that slowed down the growth of the brain stem got transferred into the victim. The bite caused an infection, which would soon kill the victim. Once that victim was dead, then the substance would kick in and they'd be up and walking again.

The task was simple: create a substance that counteracts the one made by the miracle pill. At least, that's what it would be if we only wanted to protect ourselves from zombie bites. Malcolm's goal was much bigger, and much better than that one. He wanted to bring back the people who had been infected.

And lucky for me, he'd done it.

I was about to get to the notes where he'd begun to figure out how to bring people back, when a crack interrupted my thoughts. I spun in my chair to look at my window. The shades were drawn, but the occasional lightning cast shadows on the curtains. A figure banged on the other side of the window, out on the fire escape. I guess a stray zombie had learned how to climb. I reached and gripped my knife between my fingers. The shadow hit the window again, causing another crack. _Bring it_, I thought.

_Crack!_ My window shattered, and glass littered the ground. Rain splat down from the outside onto my floor. The corpse stumbled into the room, too stupid to move the curtain.

"Come get some, maggot-breath." I muttered. It dragged it's feet slowly towards me. As it came closer, the curtain slowly began to slip off of it's body. It reminded me of those old TV shows when pretty women in cocktail dresses ripped the sheet off of brand new cars that contestants had won. Only the prize underneath the curtain wasn't exactly something I looked forward to having in my presence.

One more step, and the curtain fell away. The bronze knife slipped from my fingers and clattered down to the floor.

This one hadn't been dead long. His skin hadn't started to decompose just yet, at least not visibly. His hair was greasy and matted down by who knows what. His clothes were torn and bloodied, especially the arm. A big chunk of flesh was missing from his arm. Blood dripped from his slacked-jaw, and his face was emotionless. On his side, there hung a bronze sword. I couldn't look away from his eyes. They were dark, and cloudy, but still green.

He looked at me, and I was almost sure that I would burst into tears. I didn't.

"Percy," I whispered. A growl grumbled in his chest. Oh god I'm gonna be sick…

Percy let out a snarl and lunged at me. I jumped to the side as Percy ran into the coffee table. Papers flew around him as he scrambled to stand straight again. I only had a second to be grateful the vials were in my fridge.

"GrrRAAAWWW!" Percy groaned and stood again. He reached for me, so I grabbed his wrist.

"I'm so sorry, Perce." I said, and judo flipped him over my shoulder. It was a lot harder fighting a zombie that a) was an extremely good fighter and b) I couldn't kill. Wouldn't kill.

It broke my heart to see him lying in a helpless heap on the floor. Tears burned in my eyes as I watched him struggle to his feet once again. I rushed out the hole in the window onto the slippery fire escape. He wasted no time in following me.

The rain was coming down harder now. My clothes were soaked, and drops were clinging to my eyelashes. My footsteps splashed on the cold metal as I backed away from Percy.

"I don't want to hurt you," I told him. Of course, he didn't understand me. He reached both hands out and grabbed for my face. I gripped his arms and pushed him away from me. Percy swung his arm towards my head, but I ducked. Looks like all those practice sessions came in handy. I knew all his instinctive moves. He was all offense, no defense.

Percy kicked at me, but I blocked him. He swung at me again and again, but each time I ducked. Each hit felt like he'd hit me, even though I didn't let him touch me.

I needed time to board up my windows, time I couldn't get with Percy snapping at my heels. I cast a glance over my shoulder at the ground below us. _He's dead, he can't feel. He's dead, he can't feel._ I continued to chant that in my head as I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Please forgive me." I choked, and kicked him in the gut. Percy stumbled back, over the rail, and down towards the ground. He landed on his back with a thud and a splash.

I gripped the cold railing and leaned over to look at him. Percy looked up at me with those dull eyes, and roared. I stared down at him, not sure whether I was crying or if it was just rain.

* * *

"We can't stay here anymore." I say to everyone. After I knocked Percy off the fire escape, the others came rushing to hear what all the noise was about. I called an emergency group meeting.

"What do you mean?" Juniper asked. Her eyes were still red and puffy.

"I think that Percy's been so focused on returning to this place for so many years that it's become instinct for him. He's just going to keep coming back here." I explained, "I wouldn't be surprised if Grover ends up doing the same thing." Juniper choked back a sob and reached for Daisy.

"Where else are we supposed to go then?" Thalia asked, "Percy knows all the safe places in this entire city. If his instincts really are so strong that he knows how to get in here, then there's nowhere else we can go."

"Camp Half-Blood." Nico said, "You saw how deserted that place was. Malcolm told you that it had been empty for at least a year. If Leo makes a few fences to put up around the place, it'll be the safest place on Earth for us. Percy still knows about it, but I doubt it'll be his instinct to go there." That is actually a good idea.

"We have to leave tomorrow. Those boards we put up won't keep him out forever, and he will find another way inside." Piper said nervously.

"Pack up your stuff and leave it here." I said, "Any essentials that you'll absolutely need right away, set them on the couch." I patted the dusty piece of furniture, "We can make a couple of trips to get everything to Camp." Everyone nodded, and silently dispersed to pack up. Everyone except Hazel and Juniper.

"Can I talk to you?" Hazel asked me. I sighed.

"Let's go to my suite." The three of us trailed up the stairs to my room. Hazel shut the door behind us.

"So what is this? The first club meeting?" I asked miserably. Juniper sat daintily in one of the dining room chairs. Hazel hopped up onto the table, and I fell onto the couch.

"In a way," Hazel said quietly, looking down at her swinging feet. I swallowed.

"You want to know, don't you?" I asked, "What it was like?" I had sort of expected this. Both Hazel and Juniper were looking at me funny after the whole Percy thing.

"I just want to be prepared." Juniper said quietly, "If Grover really is one of those things now… then I want to be ready to deal with it when I see him again."

"You can never be prepared to see that." I said grimly, "You just can't." Hazel nodded.

"And it won't go away once you do." She added in. Juniper twisted her hands.

"I can try." Her voice broke. I sighed.

"It's hard to see someone you love lying in a coffin." I said, "It makes you cry, and it hurts, but at least you know that they're at peace. You know that they aren't hurting anymore." I licked my lips and held back the saltwater in my eyes.

"But seeing him dead, but not dead… it's unexplainable. He isn't at peace. I don't know where _he_ is, because that thing wasn't him. It's bad enough seeing him dead, it's terrible seeing him have to keep living when he should be buried. If that wasn't enough, he tried to kill me too." I laughed hysterically, "My undead should-have-been fiancée tried to _eat_ me. Well that's just icing on the cake of crap, isn't it?" My crazy laughs turned to heartbroken sobs. Hazel hopped down and put her arms around me.

"And this would be why I didn't want you to find him." She said quietly. Juniper gulped.

"I'm so sorry, Annabeth." She whispered. I wiped off my cheeks and cleared my throat.

"It's ok. I've been crying a lot lately. I hate that."

"I hear you," Hazel said, "It sucks." Juniper nodded in agreement.

"How's Daisy taking it?" I asked Juniper.

"I don't think she even realizes what's going on." Juniper said, "I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing."

"I'd go with a good thing." Hazel decided, "She doesn't need to remember her dad being a zombie. When this cure is made and he's revived, then she won't even remember." Juniper brushed her hair behind her ears.

"But what if she sees him? If Percy's running back here then Grover will be too. I don't want my baby to see her father like that, and I don't know what to do if she does." I drummed my fingers on my knees, unsure of exactly what to say.

"I don't know," I said. I didn't like that, not knowing, "I mean if it does happen, there's nothing you can do about it."

"That's what I was afraid of." Juniper twisted her fingers around.

"We'll just have to make sure that she doesn't see." Hazel said quietly.

"That would be best." I agreed, "Not having to see anything would definitely be the best."

* * *

**Third Person POV**

The Reviver's packed up their essentials, and piled into the truck the next morning. Leo drove, with Juniper and Daisy in the front seat next to him. In the backseat of the cab sat Hazel, Piper, and Jason. Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico all huddled in the bed of the truck amongst their things. Jason and Piper were coming back that afternoon to gather the rest of their stuff.

As the truck rattled down the street, two zombies watched it go. One watched the bright flashing blonde, while the other looked at the mother and daughter in the front seat. Though they weren't sure why, but their feet slowly dragged them behind the truck. When the truck turned a corner, and was out of sight, both the zombies stopped following. They continued to stumble in mindless, random circles around the block, somehow always ending up at the old hotel. One time, the green-eyed one stumbled over a fallen hot dog cart, and fell. He stood again, leaving the golden sword on the ground in front of the building.


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N Short, I know, and I'm sorry. Next one up soon!**

* * *

**Thalia POV**

This is Luke's death all over again. Annabeth's distant and… and just plain wrong. Why does it have to be _her?_ She's already had to deal with losing a loved one this way, why does it have to happen twice?

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I still have Nico! If anything, I just wish that none of us were dead. Beckendorf, Luke, Frank, Grover, Percy… at least we can still bring two of them back.

It didn't take us very long to make it to the camp. The place was exactly the same as we'd left it.

"Guys, in the Big House over there, there is a string on one of the doors. Do not open that door." Annabeth told everyone, "My brother's in there." She said it with a straight face, as though she was telling us what color the sky was.

"We'll unload, you and Hazel go get the rest of the stuff." I told Annabeth. She nodded, and hopped into the driver's seat.

"I could probably make some wicked fences out of those stables over there." Leo pointed to a brown building some ways away. "It's not like we're gonna be using it anyways." That's right, you needed animals to keep in a stable. Actually, maybe I could use those for when Nico does something irritating…

"This'll be great. Each of us can have our own cabin." Piper said, eyeing the jumble of weird houses, "It'll be nice to have a little more privacy." Leo laughed and wolf whistled. Jason reached out and punched his arm.

"We all know you're a bitter single, don't use humor to hide it." Piper teased. Leo rolled his eyes and went to tear apart the stables.

"I call dibs on that awesome silver one." I said, pointing down the line.

"Take it, I so get that black one over there." Nico eyed the small, dark cabin. Everyone picked up their stuff, and started claiming cabins. Jason and Piper decided to take the big one in front with the lightning bolts on it. Leo ran straight towards the weird one with smokestacks without even thinking about it. Juniper picked up Daisy, and the two of them started walking towards the cabin with the grass on the roof. When Hazel and Annabeth rumbled back down the road, Hazel took the cabin that seemed to shine brighter than the sun. I think it reminded her of Frank, he was always her ray of sunshine.

I watched Annabeth for a long time. She was eyeing that cabin with the owl over the door for a while, but she picked up her things, and opened the door to the grey cabin with seashells stuck in it. I didn't need to ask why.

"Psst," A voice whispered at my door, "Thals open up." I peered around my door to see Nico standing on my doorstep.

"What is it?" I asked, opening the door full. Nico jerked his head towards the cabin Jason and Piper decided on.

"We need to talk about something." He said, "Without Annabeth or Juniper." Without Annabeth?

"That's a really bad idea…" Nico reached out and tugged my arm.

"It's important." I huffed, but followed him to the cabin anyways. Inside, Jason and Piper were waiting for us. Hazel leaned against a wall in the corner while Leo sat cross-legged beside her.

"What's this about?" I asked as Nico shut the door behind me, "Why can't Annabeth be here? Or Juniper?" Jason rubbed the back of his neck. It was obvious that everyone here was uncomfortable.

"I think we've all had similar thoughts, but we haven't had the heart to say them out loud." He said. I licked my lips.

"Percy and Grover, right?" Piper nodded.

"They're dangerous for so many reasons. Their instincts are heightened after so many years of fighting, so they're a lot more dangerous as zombies. If that wasn't enough, we can't kill them. It'd be heartbreaking for any of us, but for Annabeth and Juniper…" She trailed off.

"But, if we hold back when we're fighting them we could get hurt or even killed." Jason said, "Which is also bad."

"What are you saying, Jason?" I asked, "That we need to go out and kill Percy and Grover before they kill us?" His eyes widened.

"No! No of course not!" He said, "But I am kinda worried." Well, duh. So was I.

"None of us want to be the ones that kill them," Nico said, "But what if we have to?" I shook my head.

"We won't have to. Annabeth will make that cure, we'll save them, everything will be fine." Piper looked down at her feet.

"But what if she can't?" Piper asked quietly, "What if she doesn't have the right ingredients? What if she can't figure out a way to make it work? We're taking a huge risk on something that may not work."

"All I know is that Malcolm says that he solved it, and Annabeth will too." I said, arguing for my friend.

"Annabeth should be here," Hazel said, "So should Juniper. It is their significant others we're talking about here."

"No way! If Annabeth were here, she'd go totally ballistic!" Leo said with fear.

"Well I'm not too happy about this either." Hazel argued, "I'm the only one here who actually understands what she's going through!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I interrupted, "We've all lost someone here." She shook her head.

"No, you all lost someone, but you never had to see them again! Me and Annabeth have!" I balled up my fists and tried hard not to punch something.

"Hello!? Me and Jason knew Luke just as well as Annabeth did, and we loved him just as much!"

"Not just as much! Annabeth was _in _love with him! I'm not saying you didn't love him, but you didn't have the same connection to him that she did. None of us have the same connection to Percy or Grover that Annabeth and Juniper have." Hazel reasoned, "None of you can possibly understand what it's like to lose the one person you love like that. You know why?" Hazel straightened up and pointed to Jason and Piper, "You two are right here, next to each other, alive." She moved over to me and Nico, "You two are right here, next to each other, alive." She walked back to Leo.

"I'm still forever alone over here." He grumbled.

"Exactly! You're the luckiest of us all because you _can't_ know what that feels like!" Hazel looked on the verge of tears, "I lost Frank, and there's no way I'm ever getting him back." Her voice broke but she kept talking, "Annabeth and Juniper at least have a chance at getting Percy and Grover back. We can't take that chance away from them, no matter how much danger there is."

"It would probably be more dangerous for us if we kill them. Annabeth would go on the warpath, and Juniper's no princess either." Leo reminded us.

"I'd rather get punched than eaten." Piper added. A good point… Hazel crossed her arms.

"Look, I can't force any of you to do anything." She conceded, "But whatever it is you're going to do, I don't want to be a part of it." She stomped to the door, "I won't tell them, so long as you keep what I told you in mind." She slammed the door and walked back to her own cabin.

"And then there were five." I muttered.

"Can we just figure this out?" Nico asked, "They're gonna get suspicious if we're all whispering angrily at each other in here."

"Alright, alright, Leo to the rescue." He said, "How about we _don't_ go out and kill them?"

"But Leo…" Piper said nervously. HE held up his hand to quiet her.

"I'm not done yet! We don't kill them, but if they become an immediate threat to us, we do." As much as I hated to say it, that sounded fair. We all exchanged the same glance, and so it was decided. Should the situation arise, we would kill Percy and Grover.

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

It was easier to focus in Percy's cabin. It reminded me of my goal, and of how desperate I was to achieve it.

Malcolm's notes had been a little bit jumbled after Percy fell onto them. It took me that much longer to find the place I had been at.

_Ok, this tells how it happened…_ I pushed a bunch of papers aside, _And this tells how to prevent it_. So Malcolm did come up with a vaccine to keep people from turning, excellent. I brushed a few more papers aside, and finally found it! The cure!

I read through, and thanked my lucky stars that most of the things he had written down, I had with me. The things that I didn't have, Malcolm did.

As I kept reading, I got more and more excited. This cure would work! Malcolm wrote down that he tested it himself on a cell sample, and it succeeded in reverting the zombie cells back to human cells!

The serum was actually brilliant! In a few words, it brought the dead cells back to life.

As Malcolm put it: _The memories and personalities of a person are still trapped inside of the brain. They simple were not reanimated, and therefore do not exist. I believe that, should a victim be injected with the cure, the brain will restart and the memories will return to the person, therefore putting that person back to the way they were again._

Of course, there was a point of no return for some zombies. The serum had to travel through the blood, and if that zombie had no more blood in them… that was an issue. As well as if their guts are spilling out or their arm is missing, they cannot be revived. Lucky for me, Percy and Grover were still in good condition.

I looked down at the sheet in my hand, and actually laughed out loud! This was amazing! We were going to bring Percy back, and save the world!

What I still didn't understand was Malcolm's final clue. So far, this said nothing about the heart. It all had to do with the brain and different cells.

The final paragraph explained how to inject the serum. It was simple, plunge it into their bloodstream. The smile faded from my face as I read the next paragraph. This could be an issue.

* * *

"Hey guys," I walked out onto the lawn between the cabins. Everyone peeked their heads out of their homes.

"What is it?" Thalia walked out of her cabin. The second she walked out I felt something off about her. She wasn't looking up to meet me in the eye, and she kept playing with her fingers… Oh well, we have a slightly bigger problem.

"This," I held out Malcolm's notes on the cure. Juniper came up behind me and read over my shoulder.

"What's the matter? Are we able to make the cure?" She asked quickly. I nodded.

"I have the ingredients, and I can have it done by tomorrow…" Juniper squealed in delight.

"But then what's the problem?" Jason asked. I showed him the papers.

"There's a reason my cure didn't work," I said, "I mean, besides the fact that my measures were wrong and I tried to use a beaker for most of them when I really should have been using the proper…"

"ENGLISH!" Leo yelled. I huffed.

"For the cure to work, it needs to travel through the bloodstream. The problem is, that the zombie's blood has… frozen in a way. It's in a suspended state where it doesn't circulate anymore, therefore the cure can't circulate through the body." Jason's eyebrows furrowed as he read through the notes.

"So how do we get the blood to circulate again?" Nico asked, looking over his shoulder. I reached out and pointed to his heart.

"We need to get their hearts to beat."


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N- don't feed me to the zombies! I'm soooo sorry this took so long! I was out of town for two weeks and I haven't had a lot of time to write until yesterday! But anyways, this one is a little bit shorter, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer! And since I took such a long break, and this is so short, here's a little Character Info...**

**Percy Jackson**- 17 years old. Head of Troop 1. Unofficial leader of the only group of surviving humans. He's calm, but he runs into things quickly and doesn't think before doing, he just does and hopes for the best. Everyone looks up to him. Fights with an old sword he found in an abandoned museum named Riptide. No more family alive. Excellent swimmer.

**Annabeth Chase**- 17 years old. Traveling with her cousin, Thalia, but basically the head of the two. Trying to find others alive, fighting for their lives. Joins, but always tries to lead with the calm, planning manner she always has until Percy disappears. Definitely clashes with Percy. Boyfriend, Luke, has been zombified and broken her heart. Works with a knife. Brilliant.

**Thalia Grace**- 15 years old. Annabeth's best friend. Always backs up Annabeth, and therefore clashes with Percy as well. Just might have a thing for Percy's buddy, Nico. In the end, does want Annabeth and Percy to be together. Works with an old bow, sometimes with a spear.

**Nico di Angelo**- Lieutenant of Revivers Troop 1, 14 years old. Works with a black sword he found when they found Percy's. Will always back up Percy, he's like Annabeth's Thalia but to Percy. Him and Thalia are constantly fighting, but he's head over heels for her. Will tell no one about his past, only Percy and Thalia know. Mother was murdered by his father, father went to prison. Is now a zombie. Older Sister Bianca is the one who made the vitamins that turned the entire world.

**Grover Underwood**- 20. Married to Juniper Underwood, who has a toddler named Daisy (5). Only goes out on local raids so that he can stay near Juniper, mostly just guards the base. Gets along well with Annabeth. Grover is Percy's oldest friend, since kindergarten. Fights with a wooden baseball bat.

**Juniper Underwood**-21, mother figure of the group. Not in a troop. Loves her daughter Daisy to death. When needed, fights with a baseball bat like Grover.

**Jason Grace**- 17. Thalia's long lost older brother. Head of Troop 2. Headstrong, courageous. First found Thalia again when her and Annabeth joined. They aren't necessarily best friends, but they aren't mean to each other. Very trusting of each other. Fights with a sword from museum. Boyfriend to Piper.

**Beckendorf**- 22, oldest of the group. Lost Silena a long time ago. Won't tell anyone his real name because Silena was the only one who called him that. Later tells Annabeth in confidence when he tells her to go after Percy. Tough fighter, the brawn. Fights with a sword they found at museum.

**Piper McLean**- 17. Fights with old knife they found in an abandoned house. Girlfriend to Jason. Tough cookie, downplays her looks.

**Leo Valdez**- 16. Goofy jokester of the group. Fights with a hammer. Hooked up their electricity and stuff. Makes good tacos. Very good friends with Jason Grace and Piper.

**Frank Zhang**- 15. Fights with a sword from the museum. Boyfriend of Hazel Levesque. Good fighter when needed.

**Hazel Levesque- **13. Fights with an old sword from museum. Girlfriend of Frank Zhang.

**Yes, I know they're all a little OOC, but it's fan fiction ;)**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"I have a theory." I said that night during dinner.

"Wha?" Leo asked, his mouth still full of food. I rolled my eyes.

"A theory on how to save Percy and Grover, and everyone else." I expanded. Juniper looked up from her food with hopeful eyes.

"Care to share?" Jason asked as he leaned forward.

"All of their primal instincts are still intact, right? That means that there are certain emotions that I may be able to tap into using those instincts, which would in turn get his heart beating. If I can capture Percy…"

"Hold on a second," Nico interrupted, "Capture Percy?" I nodded.

"I can't test the theory if I don't have a zombie."

"Well then use Malcolm," Nico said, pointing upstairs, "He's already here."

"But I haven't seen Malcolm in years. I don't know what makes him tick anymore. Percy, on the other hand, I might be able to break through to." Nico shook his head.

"Percy's way too dangerous right now just to be around. To try and capture him is practically suicide!"

"Well then what do you suggest we do?" I asked impatiently, "We don't exactly have a lot of options here!"

"What about those things that doctors used to use?" Leo asked, "You know they kind of looked like irons, and you'd rub them together and hit someone on the chest with them." He mimed the action, complete with a spazzing motion.

"Let me know when you find one." I said dryly. Juniper shifted uncomfortably and glanced back towards the Big House bedroom where Daisy was napping.

"I agree with Annabeth." She said softly, "I need my husband back, and if this is the way to do it then so be it." Nico looked about ready to tear his own hair out at that point.

"I'm sorry, you two. I can't let you go." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"_Let_ me?" He looked a bit paler than usual, but nodded anyways.

"That's right, let you. The last thing Percy would want you to do is risk his life for him." Hazel winced, sensing the oncoming explosion.

"_Him?!" _I yelped, "If we can figure this out, all of _humanity_ will be saved! Of course I want to bring Percy back, but this isn't just about him!" Nico crossed his arms.

"We will find another way to get the zombie's hearts to beat. Maybe we can go and find one of those electric iron things Leo was talking about."

"Where exactly are you going to find one of those? The nearest hospital is completely overrun!" Juniper's eye was twitching in a way that made me feel like I should hide underneath the table.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" She yelled, "My daughter went to sleep crying last night, and she won't stop asking me when her daddy is coming home." Juniper stood up, tiny fists balled up. She looked down at us through narrowed eyes.

"This is the closest we have come to a cure in years." She said in a deadly calm voice, "We can't just let it slip through our fingers."

"Juniper…" Nico started.

"No!" She snapped, "This cure means more to me than it means to _any_ of you. We've all lost someone here, and we all have that small hope in our hearts that we can bring them back. This isn't just getting Grover back for me!" Her eyes were starting to tear up, "This cure could mean an entirely different world for my daughter to live in. None of you could possibly understand that feeling! It is not my goal to survive this world, it is not my goal to rid the world of zombies, and it is not my goal to find a cure. It is my _job, _my one and_ only job_ to keep my daughter safe and happy." The room was silent, "And none of you can understand that." She turned her eyes to Nico, "The only reason I'm not out there getting Percy for myself is because I can't leave Daisy without her mommy too." Nico looked down at his hands in shame. He muttered something to himself.

"Percy's gonna murder me…" He said. I was about to ask, but he sighed and stood up, "Annabeth, you and I will go find him tomorrow morning." Nico groaned and rubbed his eyes, "But when Percy gets revived, you have to explain to him why I'm doing this." Thalia reached up and took his hand. It was a very un-Thalia like move, but in that moment it was needed. Juniper nodded.

"Thank you, Nico."

Lesson of the day: do NOT mess with Mama Bear!

* * *

"Come on, Annabeth, let's just get this over with." Nico growled as we jumped in the Jeep.

"Why are you so against this? I thought you'd want Percy back just as much as everyone else." Nico shot me a look as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road. I looked back to make sure Leo closed the gate he'd begun making.

"Don't doubt me, Annabeth. Percy's my bro, dead or alive. Bro's have each other's back."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get my manual yet." I said dryly.

"Just go with it, ok?" I sighed and stared out the window. Every now and then we'd pass a random straggler wandering around the fields of overgrown grass. They would look at us for a moment, but the moment our vehicle passed they'd continue on their trek.

"Where are we looking first?" Nico asked as we pulled into the city.

"Try the base, that's where they were hanging out before." He nodded, and within a few minutes we were in front of the old hotel. Nico and I stepped out and stood on the steps.

"The place doesn't look like it's been touched since we left." He said.

"You never know." I murmured. A glint of gold in the corner of my eye made me turn my head, "Hey Nico…" I bent down and picked up the object, half hidden underneath an overturned hot dog cart.

"Is that what I think it is?" He asked. I nodded, holding Percy's sword on my fingertips.

"They were here, that's for sure." I stuck his sword in my belt and dusted off my hands.

"But they aren't anymore." Nico said, squinting up at the sun.

"We don't know that, we haven't searched inside yet." Nico coughed.

"That door is jammed shut, and the windows are all unbroken. I seriously doubt that they're in there, and I don't want to waste time searching somewhere they aren't." Well, the boy made sense.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" I asked.

"They can't have gone far. Why don't we just wander the streets and try to coax them out?" Doesn't that sound so strategic?

"Ok," I whistled and started clapping my hands, "Here Percy, Percy, Percy!" Nico rolled his eyes.

"You're hilarious, Chase." He muttered as we wandered down the street.

"I'm just trying to find my lost boyfriend using any means I have. Sadly, I forgot my zombie-net at home." I said as I continued clapping.

"Seriously, Annabeth?" Nico asked crossing his arms.

"The clapping is noise. Percy and Grover are the only two zombies within a few miles of this place, so they'll be the only ones that will come." Nico ahh'd, and nodded. He started whistling beside me.

"How long are we gonna walk around acting like idiots?" He asked.

"Until—" _Grrraaahhh_, "—until that happens." The shadows in front of us moved, and two very familiar faces popped out. Nico gagged.

"They've been feeding," He choked. I flinched when I saw the blood on their faces.

"Let's just hope they were eating animals, and not people." I was able to swallow my bile, but Nico wasn't so lucky.

"Come on barf breath, let's lead them back to the car." I snapped my fingers and clapped my hands. Percy growled and stalked closer, Grover right on his heels.

"Uh… Annabeth?" Nico whispered, "I don't think they're going to come the easy way." He was right. They were starting to come at us quicker, and with a lot more teeth.

"Play defense, Nico. If they lose any important limbs, then it's over." He nodded, not even taking his sword out.

"I got Grover, Percy's all yours." That went without saying. Percy ran at me, reaching for my face. I ducked and rolled out of the way. For a second I got the urge to yell "Taro!"

"GRAAGHAAA!" He growled angrily. I'd take this while he was undead, but if that boy ever growls at me when he's alive again, I'll kill him!

Percy lunged at me again. This time I grabbed his arm and forced him backwards onto a bench. He stumbled to his feet and ran at me yet again.

"This is getting old, Perce." I sighed, faking a yawn, "Got any new tricks?" He wasn't listening, and charged. I jabbed him in the stomach and he fell to his knees. Percy reached out and grabbed my ankle, bringing me down. I screamed as I felt his teeth graze my ankle before I pulled it away. I crab crawled backwards and made sure he hadn't bitten me.

"Annabeth?!" Nico yelled in fear, "Did he get you?"

"I'm fine!" I called, "Not even a scratch," Thank god for that, that was close!

Percy snarled and army crawled towards me. I jumped up and ran towards Nico, who was struggling with Grover.

"Can I get some help here?" He groaned, fighting Grover back.

"I'm gonna need some too." I said, eyeing Percy running at me again.

"This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought." Nico muttered, shoving Grover off of him.

"How am I supposed to get him back to Camp without hurting him?" I asked. Nico huffed.

"I don't think you can, not without some rope and a sedative." I slapped his arm. Grover and Percy growled and started towards us again.

"Um…" My voice shook.

"We need to retreat, like, now." Nico decided. I grabbed my arm and started tugging me towards the car. I stumbled after him. Lucky for us, Grover and Percy's leg muscles had begun to decay, and they didn't run so fast.

* * *

The ride home was quiet. There's nothing worse than the air between people after a depressing defeat.

"Hey Annabeth?" He asked.

"What?" I said quietly.

"Does the cure save rotted zombies too?" I nodded.

"The cure brings the cells back to life, in a sense. Once the cure is injected into a victim, it sends that person into a coma of sorts. During that time, the rest of the brain reanimates, memories return, and anything that's been rotting regenerates into living organs and such… in theory." I explained.

"What if the zombie's rotted so much that they're just skeletons." I winced.

"They need blood and organs intact." I said, "All of those people that got turned at first… by now they probably can't come back." Nico sighed.

"I kind of figured." He said quietly, "I was hoping it may bring back… some people." I didn't pry (even though I wanted to).

"Me too," I sighed, "My younger brothers, and my dad are out there somewhere. They got turned after the first few months. I don't think I can get them back." Nico looked at me sympathetically.

"I guess we're still gonna have some zombies to kill, even after this cure." He said grimly.

"Let's just count our blessings."


	20. Chapter 19

**Thalia POV**

I'm pacing. Yes, I'm pacing. I have been since Annabeth and Nico left. I love them both, and the last thing I want to see is only one of them returning.

"Thals?" Hazel came running into my cabin, "They're back." My feet moved without telling my brain, and I was out the door before Hazel could turn her head.

Outside, Annabeth and Nico were just pulling in behind the big house.

"You're ok," I said breathlessly as I ran up to them. Nico smelled like death, but I didn't care, I threw my arms around him anyways.

"Yeah, so am I." Annabeth said dryly from beside him. I smirked and reached to hug her too.

"I meant the both of you." I said. It occurred to me that they were empty handed, "What happened? Where's Percy?" I asked, pulling away. Nico looked down at his feet, and Annabeth began playing with her hair.

"I need to talk to everyone together." Nico said. Annabeth looked up in surprise.

"You do?" He nodded.

"Yes, I do." Nico turned to look at me, "Gather everyone in the Big House."

Within a few minutes, Nico, Annabeth, Hazel, Juniper, Jason, Piper, Leo, and me were sitting around the front living room. Nico stood in front of us all, sanding his hands together nervously.

"As you all have noticed by now, we didn't capture Percy." He announced dejectedly, "We were overwhelmed within minutes, and there was no way we were going to get him all the way here without getting killed. Not without heavy duty equipment that we just don't have." The atmosphere in the room dropped instantly.

"My point is, that it's too dangerous right now to leave the camp for any reason." Nico said, "That includes… getting Percy." Annabeth's jaw dropped along with Juniper's.

"You can't do that! The longer we wait, the higher the chance Percy or Grover will be injured and we won't be able to revive them!" Annabeth argued, standing up.

"It doesn't matter if you get killed in the process!" Nico yelled, "You are not leaving this camp while Percy's still out there! None of us are!" Annabeth glared at him.

"And who elected you the leader when Percy died?" She spat, "I'm going to get Percy and I'm going to save him, whether you say I can or not!" Jason stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.

"If you die, then we lose all hope of ever fixing this. You're the only one of us who can understand your brother's notes. I'm sorry, Annabeth, but I'm with Nico on this one." She grit her teeth.

"I agree with Annabeth, we need to find Percy in order to save Grover!" Juniper said. Nico smacked his hand on a table.

"_None_ of us are leaving! It isn't safe, and that's final!" Nico shouted. Without another word he stalked out the door to his cabin. The rest of the group disbanded, not wanting to share the tense air with Annabeth. Only I stayed with her.

"Can you believe that?" She growled at me. I shuffled my feet.

"Actually… yes." I admitted. Annabeth's eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

"Thalia, you _agree_ with them? Is this just because you're dating Nico?" I shook my head.

"No! Of course not! If my personal relationships were what I used to decide things, I'd take your side." I said, "Annabeth, I agree with them because I love you. It's too dangerous, and I can't lose you." She clenched her fists tightly. It was obvious she wasn't sure whether to hug me or yell at me.

I guess she decided to go with yelling. Great. Well if it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she gets.

"How can you do this to me, Thalia? You know how much I love Percy, and you know how much I need him to fix things!" She yelled, "I _have_ to leave and find him! If I don't, who knows when we'll be able to make this cure?!"

"I have faith in you, Annabeth, you'll find a way to do it _without_ Percy." I said firmly.

"I don't know how long that will take! And by the time I figure it out, we may be too late to save Percy and Grover." She argued, "If we don't act fast, we risk losing them altogether!"

"If you act too fast, then we risk losing you!" I yelled, "Will you get this through your thick, stubborn, skull? We need you _here! _You have to stop being so selfish, Annabeth!"

"What did you just call me?!" Annabeth screeched. Oh boy, I was gonna get it now. But I was on a roll, so might as well take it whole-heartedly.

"Selfish, Annabeth! I called you selfish!" I repeated, "You're not thinking clearly! You're thinking about Percy! It doesn't matter how many times you say it's for the greater good or whatever, we all know it's because of Percy!" She sat in a shocked silence, so I took that as a sign to continue, "We all miss him, of course we do! But we can't base all of our opinions on Percy! You can't risk your life to save his! This isn't some book series where it all works out in the end!" I shouted, "This is real, and there are real people relying on you to save them! People that aren't Percy." She bit her lip and looked down at her hands, knowing that I was right. She wasn't ready to admit it yet, though.

"This isn't just about Percy," She said quietly. I rolled my eyes.

"You're in denial, Annabeth! You need help! The only way that I can think to do that is locking you up here, and hoping you figure it out for yourself." Annabeth glared up at me.

"I'm not staying here, Thalia. It'll be unsafe if I go out alone, but you're forcing my hand!" I huffed. Great, Annabeth was playing _that_ card. Come on, brainstorm…

"I'll talk to Nico," I said softly, "I'll see what I can do." It wouldn't keep her here for long, but it may be enough to keep her safe for a couple of days. Annabeth nodded.

"Thank you." She said, and left without looking back.

* * *

I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door of Nico's cabin.

"Enter," He called from inside. I opened the dusty, black door and entered the cabin. It was dark, musty, and smelled like death. Nico's kind of place. He was lying on his bed, arm over his eyes. When I walked up to him, he opened one of his eyes.

"Thalia, what's up?" He asked. His voice was tired.

"Annabeth wanted me to talk to you…" He moaned and closed his eyes again.

"Thalia, please, I don't like doing this."

"Well then why are you doing it? Look, I don't want Annabeth in danger either, but this isn't the way to go about this." I argued.

"Thalia, I've made up my mind. End of discussion."

"Will you just hear me out for a second?" I asked. Nico shook his head stubbornly.

"No, I'm not changing my mind." He said. I sat next to him at the foot, trying to get him to listen to me.

"I'm not asking you to! I'm asking you to think about this again." I explained, "Annabeth basically told me herself that she would leave camp whether we let her or not. It's a lot more dangerous if she sneaks out on her own." Nico sighed.

"Well then we'll put a watch on her. Thalia, I'm not letting her out of camp." He said firmly.

"Why? Why are you going out of your way to keep her locked up?" I asked. _Please don't say you have a crush on her, please don't say you have a crush on her, please don't say you have a crush on her… _

Nico sighed and sat up, "Percy." He said sadly.

"What? What do you mean Percy?" Nico twiddled his thumbs and looked me in the eye.

"Before he died, Percy talked to Grover and me. He said that if anything happened to him, then I needed to do everything I could to keep Annabeth safe. Grover said the same thing, but Juniper's tied here because of Daisy. It's Annabeth I really need to watch out for right now." Thank god.

"So this is all to keep Annabeth safe for _Percy…_" I clarified. Nico smirked.

"Jealous?" He joked. I rolled my eyes.

"You're annoying, and you couldn't just tell me that in the first place?" He shrugged.

"It never came up." Ugh, boys. They're the same, even in a post-apocalyptic world.

"Does Juniper know? About what Grover asked you to do?" Nico nodded.

"Grover and Juniper don't have any secrets." Isn't that the truth… "I get the feeling that's part of the reason she keeps staying behind, instead of going out with you to find him. Besides the fact that Daisy's here, she knows that Grover wouldn't want her out there." Hm, interesting.

"Well maybe I can convince Annabeth to stay is she knew…"

"No!" Nico interrupted. He jumped up from the bed to stand in front of me, "That is the _last_ thing you should do! You know better than anyone that Annabeth hates being taken care of! If she realized that Percy's practically tying her hands together from beyond the grave… oh god I don't even want to think about it!" Nico was practically ripping his own hair out at that point.

"Ok! Point taken, I won't tell her." I promised, "But she is going to be _so mad_ when she hears that you're sticking to this." Nico winced.

"You know, I think I'll just hang out in here for the rest of my life."

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

Thalia had been avoiding me ever since she met with Nico. That could only mean that it hadn't gone so well.

Instead of sitting on my butt like a target, I decided to take this situation into my own hands. That night, I grabbed my backpack and headed towards the border.

Leo had made excellent progress on the fence. It surrounded the entire camp now! He had to go around and strengthen them, but it would do for now.

The last thing I'd expected to see when I exited my cabin was Juniper with her hands on her hips.

"I know where you're going, Annabeth." She said firmly, "And I can't let you do it." I let the backpack fall from my shoulders to the ground.

"Juniper, I really don't have time for this." I said in exasperation.

"I think you do," Juniper said, using her "Mom" voice, "You can't go, Annabeth."

"Watch me." Juniper shook her head.

"No, you don't understand. You can't." She said.

"And why not?" Juniper bit her lip.

"I was sworn to secrecy." She blurted out. I bit the inside of my cheek in anger. The last thing I needed was secrets about me.

"By who? Nico?" I spit. Juniper shook her head.

"Grover." She answered. Did not see that one coming.

"Grover? Juniper what are you talking about?" She reached out and shoved me back into my cabin, closing the door behind us.

"I don't want anyone else to know that I told you." She said quietly, "But the day that Nico, Grover, and Percy went to get your wedding ring," She pointed to my finger, "they all made a pact with each other." She said, "They all promised that if something happened to one of them, the others would protect their… other halves." Juniper whispered, "Since Nico's the only one left, then he's the one that has to make sure you and me don't do something to get ourselves killed."

I didn't know whether to be pissed or touched. Percy was _protecting me_ from beyond the grave. On the other hand, Percy was protecting me from _beyond the grave_.

If I left now, I would not only be painting a target on Nico's forehead for Percy to hit, but I would also be betraying Percy's dying wish by going out and putting myself in danger. But I bet he would forgive me if I brought him back to life and saved all of humanity… maybe. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry," I wasn't sure whether I was saying that to Juniper, or to Percy, "I have to do this." Juniper pursed her lips for a moment before throwing her arms around me.

"Come back safe." She whispered in my ear. I nodded, squeezing her tightly.

"I promise."

* * *

This time around, I was prepared to capture him. I had brought some rope, and a large fishing net I'd found in the supply closet. Of course, duct tape as well, every zombie hunter's secret weapon.

Instead of trying the base again, I drove to somewhere I was hoping Percy would be drawn to: the middle school where I'd first kissed him.

The zombies roaming the front courtyard didn't even notice as I took the roof route like last time. The door was closed, but not locked this time. I was careful to keep my eyes peeled for zombies, as I was sure a lot of them had wandered inside.

I was right. Down the steps and just around the corner was a group of three zombies, all teenagers. I contemplated my options: I could loudly shove them in a room or something and risk getting overrun, or I could silently kill them and strengthen my chances of getting in and out without being noticed.

I winced, trying not to picture myself in their place as I silently beheaded them all.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed as I sped down the hall towards the cafeteria. The doors were partially open, and from what I could see through the glass on the doors, it was mainly empty. I crept up, and slowly pushed open the door.

Sitting at the same table Percy and I had fought on top of, was Grover and Percy, still in one piece.

They both looked up as I entered. For a second, I thought that they recognized me, and that I was safe.

Yep, I was wrong.

Grover stood and charged at me, his big goat teeth clattering together.

"I'm so sorry, Grover" I apologized as I sidestepped and let him run into the wall. I kicked Percy in the chest as he stumbled behind Grover. He went down onto the ground.

While Percy fumbled to get up again, I took Grover's slimy (ew) hands and duct taped them together.

"Please forgive me for this," I said to him as I dragged him into the kitchen freezer, and closed the door. That should keep him safe until I could come back and revive him. I could hear Grover banging against the door, roaring to get out… but it didn't matter. I turned around and saw Percy standing in the middle of the cafeteria, staring at me.

"Miss me?" I asked.


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N I AM SO SORRY! I was just losing inspiration and time and everything was going bleh :P. Point is THIS STORY WILL NOT BE ABANDONED! It's almost done, a few more chapters left, I won't say how many exactly but this is not the last! I'll try to make my next update waaaay faster! Again, I AM SO SORRY!**

**And I'm also sorry it's so short. I figured it would be better to post it than to wait another week. **

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

He didn't move for a second. He just stared at me. _Why isn't he coming at me?_ I wondered. Maybe…

"Percy?" I said slowly.

"GRRAAWWWWW!" Ok, no. He is still a flesh-eating zombie.

Percy charged at me, arms outstretched. I duck and rolled to the side and he slammed headfirst into the freezer. I winced, hoping that he hadn't hurt himself too badly. I was closer to him than I had been in a while. When he turned around and looked at me, my heart dropped down to my feet.

The way he looked at me… it made me lose all hope for him. He stared _right through me_. It was as though he had never loved me, as though he'd never even known me. For a moment I was tempted… really tempted… maybe if he bit me, we could disappear into this crazy good-for-nothing world together. If I joined him and the army of undead, then I could just be with him.

Then I came back to my senses.

"Sorry, Perce." I said, and kicked his knees. He fell forward onto his stomach, and I took that moment to pull out my duct tape. My foot pressed into his back and held him down while I taped his wrists together.

"Here's how this is going to work." I said as I worked, "I am dragging you up to the roof, using the door to make a bridge between this building and the next, then I'm dragging you down _another _flight of stairs and back to the truck, you got that?" He roared at me, "Good. Let's go."

That is just what I did. By the time we actually reached the car again, Percy was covered in dust, mud, and I'm pretty sure he ate a couple dust bunnies. It felt pretty weird throwing my boyfriend into the back like a sack of flour. He was making a lot of noise, thrashing around back there, so I had to drive out of the city FAST before he attracted other corpses.

The ride seemed shorter than usual, as I kept looking in my rearview mirror to check on Percy. As I had suspected, they were waiting for me when I finally arrived at dusk. Nico looked pissed.

"You did _NOT_ do what I think you did." He shouted at me. I jumped out of the car and slammed the door with pride.

"Yes, I did, and I succeeded." I said, slapping the edge of the car. Thalia covered her mouth in shock.

"Percy? You actually got him?" I nodded. Out of all of them, Juniper and Hazel were the only ones that smiled. Both Nico and Jason looked like they were contemplating their lectures in their heads.

"I'm a big girl, and I don't need you to tell me that what I did was stupid. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go lock my fiancée in Cabin number three so that I can run some tests on him."

* * *

**Thalia POV**

"We can't let him stay here." Nico repeated for the billionth time, "Did you _see_ him when Annabeth pulled him out of the car? That's not Percy anymore." I bit my lip. All of us but Annabeth were in the Big House, discussing the current developments. Annabeth was studying Percy down in Cabin 3.

"We need to have some faith in Annabeth's ability…" Juniper argued. Nico shook his head like a dog in the rain.

"This is insane! We can't bring back the dead! It's against nature…"

"Yeah? Well so is the living dead!" Juniper yelled, "All of this is completely against nature! That doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try." Jason sighed and rubbed his forehead, eyes closed.

"Juniper, even you have to admit that Percy didn't seem… very Percy-like." He said slowly, "I mean… I don't think… we shouldn't… ugh, Piper?" Piper put her hand on his arm comfortingly.

"What he's failing to say, is that maybe we aren't _supposed_ to bring back the dead." She said quietly. Hazel shook her head and crossed her arms.

"He isn't dead, though! He's up, he's moving, and he's most certainly eating." Hazel said. She stood to look out the window at Cabin 3.

"If we shoot him in the heart, nothing happens. Does that sound like he's _alive_ to you?" Nico asked. I suppose I have to play mediator now. Great.

"I have to agree with Nico on this one." I said sadly, "I love Annabeth, and I love Percy and Grover too. It's just too dangerous to try and mess with this stuff." I stood and stared down at Juniper, "I hoped just as much as the two of you that we could bring them back. But we're so far from actually succeeding. Annabeth would never admit it, but she doesn't know what she's doing out there!" I pointed to the window Hazel was now leaning against, "We aren't even a hundred percent sure that getting his heart to beat will bring him back at all! There's too much to lose." I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

"Look, we've got a good thing going here." Piper interjected, "We've got a big, safe place where we can grow our own food and we've got access to fresh water. I don't want to have to sleep with one eye open anymore."

"Yeah. I've been working on our barricades all week. No zombie is getting to us unless someone brings one in!" Leo added.

"But we can't just abandon Percy and Grover." Hazel said, "If there's even a slight chance they can come back, well then why can't we take it?"

"Mommy?" We were interrupted by the small voice of Daisy from the doorway.

"Sweetie what are you doing? I thought you were in the kitchen." Juniper said softly, going to her daughter's side.

"Mommy, where's Daddy?" Daisy asked curiously, "You said he was coming home soon." The room was silent, sinking in guilt. Juniper looked pointedly at Nico, then back to Daisy.

"Come on, Daisy. Why don't we go talk in our cabin?" She murmured, picking her up and setting her on her hip, "If you'll excuse us." She said flatly, leaving.

"I'll go with her." Hazel muttered, "I don't want to hear this anymore." With that, she picked up and left, leaving nobody else to fend for the two zombies.

Leo sighed, "This is really sad. I don't like it." Nico nodded.

"Tell me about it. These are my best friends we're talking about." He murmured.

"I hate saying it… but I think we need to do something about Percy." Jason said. Piper nodded.

"Tonight." She agreed. Leo looked uneasy.

"But Annabeth…"

"Annabeth won't know until it's done." Nico interrupted him, "Right Thals?" I winced. I didn't really like plotting against my best friend.

"Right." I said, "I'll tell her Malcolm escaped or something." Leo nodded, still looking wary. I couldn't help but agree. Annabeth's wrath was not something to mess with.

* * *

That night, while Annabeth was checking on Malcolm in the Big House, Nico, Jason, Piper, Leo, and myself all took a trip to Cabin three.

The inside wasn't smelling so hot after having a dead person in it all day. Papers were scattered across the beds, and vials and bottles sat on the desk and bathroom counter. At the back of the room, Percy sat in a wooden chair with his hands tied to the arms, and his feet tied to the legs. His mouth was gagged, and his head was bowed.

As the five of us walked in, he looked up. A low groan came from his throat, but the gag prevented him from getting loud enough to warn Annabeth. Nico had volunteered to do the honors as well as take the heat.

The rest of us stayed back, with Leo guarding the door. Nico stepped closer and closer to Percy in the dark room. He passed the window, and for a second the moonlight illuminated his face. He looked disgusted, guilty, and sad. Sad, most of all.

"Aw man, Perce. I never thought it would come to this." He said quietly to the zombie. Percy just stared at him with glassy eyes and a slacked jaw. I watched a tear slip down Nico's cheek as he raised his sword…

Metal clanged on metal as a golden dagger came up out of the shadows and stopped his sword just before Percy's head rolled to the floor.

"Don't. Touch. Him." Annabeth's voice said dangerously. Leo yelped, and Piper shrunk down behind Jason.

"I thought you were at the Big House…" I said weakly. Annabeth turned her glare to me.

"I'm not an idiot, Thalia." She said coldly, "I knew you all would try to kill him, I saw your faces when I showed up." She sheathed her dagger and stood in front of Percy. He struggled against his restraints, dying to get out and eat us all for dinner.

"He's dangerous, Annabeth. Look at him!" Nico said, pointing to his drooling mouth, "He's trying to eat you!" She rolled her eyes.

"He's tied down. He can't hurt me unless I let him, which I won't."

"You're being too overconfident." Jason said as kindly as he could, "He's a danger to everyone, Annabeth."

"Well so are the other zombies out there!"

"The zombies out there aren't in the camp!"

"The zombies out there aren't Percy or Grover or Malcolm!" She cried, "Do you guys not _understand _that I'm trying to save the world?! We all wanted this a few days ago!"

"That was before we saw him." I said to her, "Have you really looked at Percy?" She pursed her lips and wouldn't look me in the eye.

"I can't give up yet." She said stubbornly, "I know I can save him, and I'm not going to stop trying until I do." When Annabeth put her mind to something, there was no way to stop her.

"Come on." I said quietly, "Nothing's changing tonight." Annabeth nodded.

"You're right. It's not." She agreed. Nico sighed.

"Bed time, children." Leo said, and began leading us out.

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

I slammed the door behind them and closed my eyes. They were right… in their own way. I couldn't admit it just yet, though. I had to have faith. If I lost that… well then I'm pretty sure I'd lose my mind too. I turned to look at Percy, staring at me.

"Who would have thought we'd end up here?" I said to him, smirking. I pulled up the desk chair in front of him, and sat down.

"I'm so sorry, Perce. This is all my fault."

I spent the rest of the night telling him I was sorry.

* * *

I woke up in the morning to a knocking at my door. I lifted my head off of the desk.

"Come in." I muttered groggily. The door opened, and Thalia stepped in.

"Hey." She murmured guiltily, "We talked, and we decided that if you can't get his heart to beat in the next week, we have to kill him." She said, pointing to Percy, "I'm sorry."


End file.
